On September 30, 2018, the United States, Mexico and Canada (the Parties) reached an agreement to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The new agreement is called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). As has been widely reported, the Parties conducted many months of negotiations to reach this agreement.
It is important to note that the USMCA still has to be ratified by all the Parties. Until this ratification has taken place, the current NAFTA rules and regulations remain in place. This means that there is no immediate change to existing legal structure in place.
Đọt Chuối Non 
Commentary By
Theodore R. Bromund, Ph.D.@Bromund
Senior Research Fellow in Anglo-American Relations
James Jay Carafano@JJCarafano
Vice President, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute
Brett D. Schaefer
Senior Research Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs
KEY TAKEAWAYS
U.S. accession would provide no benefits not already available to the U.S., while creating unnecessary burdens and risks.
The U.S. does not need to join the convention in order to access oil and gas resources on its extended continental shelf, in the Arctic, or in the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite subsequent changes in 1994 that led the Clinton administration to support U.S. accession, the Trump administration should oppose accession to this treaty.