The Trump administration has started its review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, kicking off the early stages of the first formal assessment of the landmark trade pact since it took effect in 2020.

Although the USMCA is technically scheduled for an official review in July 2026, the U.S. Trade Representative filed a notice in the federal register on September 16, seeking public comments as a precursor to the formal evaluation set to begin next year. After gathering those comments, the USTR plans to hold public hearings starting on November 17, in order to go over feedback and summarize the public testimony. The USTR then has to make a determination by January 26 on whether to recommend the U.S. continue on with the pact.

Reuters reports that Mexico kicked off a similar public consultation process on September 17, ahead of a planned meeting between President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney the following day. In a September 16 release from Carney's office, the prime minister vowed to work with Mexico to "focus on elevating our partnerships in trade, commerce, security and energy."

"Together, we will build stronger supply chains, create new opportunities for workers, and deliver greater prosperity and certainty for both Canadians and Mexicans," he said. 

The U.S., Mexico and Canada signed onto the USCMA in 2018, as part of a first-term push from President Donald Trump to replace the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. The USCMA, which officially took effect two years later, contains a clause that allows it to be assessed every six years, and is set to expire in 2036 unless all parties agree to extend it. However, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick signaled in July that Trump would "absolutely" look to renegotiate the pact as part of the scheduled 2026 review, telling CBS News at the time that the president "wants to protect American jobs."

"He doesn't want cars built in Canada or Mexico when they can be built in Michigan and Ohio," Lutnick said. "It's just better for American workers." 

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Both Mexico and Canada have raised concerns in recent months over sweeping U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles that appear to go against the spirit of the USMCA. In May, Carney declared that Canada's decades-long era of cooperation with the U.S. was over, and warned that Canadians must "fundamentally reimagine our economy" in response to Trump's tariffs.