NPR.

This is the indicator from Planet Money.

I'm Adrienne Ma.

And I'm Daryam Woods.

Six years ago, President Trump signed a trilateral trade pact called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA.

Well, if you're in Canada, you call it the C-U-S C-USMA, Kuzma. Or in Mexico, it's called

Trasado, Mexico, Estados, Ineiros, Canada. Sounds like bad bunny at the end of the Super Bowl.

Three names, and you know what's funny, the word trade doesn't appear at all. President Trump

was a driving force behind this agreement, so when he signed it in 2020, he was pretty proud of it.

The USMCA is the largest, fairest, most balanced and modern trade agreement ever achieved.

So, if that's how Trump felt back then, why? Just days ago, did he say this to report it?

But I would write, we do better as a country if we don't have an agreement.

So are you thinking of... Yeah, I'm thinking about maybe we won't be able to make a deal But I would, we do better as a country if we don't have an agreement. So are you thinking of...

Yeah, I'm thinking about maybe we won't be able to make a deal.

I would rather not have the USMCA.

The timing of this shift isn't coincidental.

That's because today, July 1st, the three countries are getting together to decide

whether or not to continue the USMCA.

Today on the show, we'll explain why and what happens if they can't make a deal.

Before the USMCA, there was NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

It went into effect in 1994 and tore down trade barriers between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. And in the years that followed,

there was a boom in trade in everything from crops and metals to electronics and cars.

...