I will lay this out one last time for Canadians.
The USMCA does not lock anyone in until 2036
Any member (including the U.S.) can exit unilaterally with six months’ notice under Article 34.6 The 2026 review and 2036 timeline ONLY matter if countries choose to stay in the deal. Exit is a separate and immediate option.
Therefore, Trump can easily kill the trilateral USMCA and negotiate bilaterals from a position of strength with nothing in its place during the gap.
As President he has the right to trigger Article 34.6: six months written notice and the US is out. No automatic deal stays alive, and America drops back to WTO rules, higher tariffs, no special access with Canada and Mexico until new bilateral deals are signed.
The "annual review until 2036 crowd" is completely missing the point. Withdrawal is the real fast exit that skips it completely. Trump used the same threat to turn NAFTA into USMCA before. He can certainly do it again.
Canada and Mexico would feel the heat right away: messed up supply chains, lost market access, and the threat of fresh US tariffs. Talks could drag on for months or years, but the US keeps the leverage the whole time.
@honjamesmoore Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) just went online last month lol
And the Americans are scaling up Venezuelan heavy crude to keep their refineries busy
Nice try though, please play again