The USMCA can help make North America the economic core of the Western Hemisphere

In the 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS), the Trump Administration signals a significant reorientation of America’s international priorities.¹ Unlike prior administrations, the NSS narrows the scope of America’s national interests and brings a renewed focus to the Western Hemisphere.

The “Trump Corollary,” or the “Donroe Doctrine” as the president has called it, entails that the United States will “reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere.”² While this raises important questions about the nature and limits of American interventions in the region, particularly given the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela, it also presents an opportunity to advance a positive vision for the region with North America at its center.

North America’s role in the US Western Hemisphere strategy

According to the NSS, the administration’s two primary goals for the Western Hemisphere are to enlist regional champions that can help bolster the region’s economic and national security and expand partnerships in the region to counter the influence of non-hemispheric competitors.³ The North American economic partnership, underpinned by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), plays a major role in achieving both goals.

As the major economic partners of the United States in the region, Canada and Mexico are the United States’ natural primary partners for building the Western Hemisphere’s economic and national security.

As I have previously argued, the three countries should establish a North American economic security agenda.⁴ The tenets of such an agenda—including prioritizing North American economic competitiveness, increasing trilateral coordination on China, and forming new bilateral economic security initiatives within North America—remain highly relevant today. By further deepening the North American economic and security partnership, the three countries can establish the core economic foundation for hemispheric stability and competitiveness.

The relevance of deeper North American cooperation extends beyond traditional areas to emerging strategic priorities for the Western Hemisphere, such as Arctic security. Although the Trump administration has identified Greenland as a strategic priority in the Arctic for America’s national security,⁵ it is important to recognize that Canada is the largest Arctic nation by coastline. As a core hemispheric partner of the United States, Canada is central to safeguarding the Arctic at a time of increasing geopolitical competition with non-hemispheric competitors, including China and Russia. While there remains much work to do in this respect, Canada is already expanding the Canadian Armed Forces’ presence in the region and making billion-dollar North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) infrastructure investments in strategic locations such as in Yellowknife, Inuvik, and Iqaluit, including installing Over-the-Horizon radar technology.⁶

Moreover, it is important to note that American hemispheric pre-eminence cannot be achieved by relying solely on tariffs and other coercive methods. This is particularly true in the case of the Arctic, where the Trump administration has threatened tariffs against eight NATO allies who do not support a U.S. acquisition of Greenland.⁷ While such measures may yield short-term leverage, they risk undermining business confidence, disrupting deeply integrated supply chains, and harming relationships with regional partners in the long term. A truly durable hemispheric strategy requires predictable, rules-based, and mutually beneficial economic cooperation among partners. North America can lead the way by advancing a model for regional prosperity and security that will encourage expansion of partnerships in the region.

Why the USMCA review matters for the Western Hemisphere

The Trump administration’s renewed focus on the Western Hemisphere comes at a pivotal moment for the future of the North American trading relationship. As the July 1, 2026 USMCA review date approaches, the United States should leverage this process to translate its hemispheric ambitions into concrete outcomes that strengthen North America and also benefit the wider region.

Since entering into force in 2020, the USMCA has succeeded in creating a trading infrastructure that businesses have relied on to deliver significant economic benefits across North America. This includes a dramatic increase in intra-North American trade and investment, strengthened co-production across key sectors, enablement of millions of jobs, and greater resilience during periods of global disruption.

Given the USMCA’s immense economic importance, all three countries should prioritize the renewal of the agreement for a new 16-year term with some improvements. In the Canadian Chamber’s comments for the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) consultation on the USMCA review,⁸ we outline seven key areas where such opportunities exist. Such measures will benefit the three countries but can also play a key role in underpinning an effective and durable hemispheric strategy.

For instance, the three countries can leverage the agreement to promote resilient and competitive regional supply chains that are critical for preserving North American economic security. The Competitiveness Chapter established a committee intended to promote economic integration and enhance the competitiveness of North American exports. The three countries can reorient this committee to establish a competitiveness strategy for North America that engages the broader hemisphere in strategic areas, such as critical minerals.

Additionally, greater cooperation on policies related to digital trade and emerging technologies have enormous potential. Although the USMCA includes rules governing digital trade via its Digital Trade Chapter, advancements in digital technologies, including recent rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, require that the three countries update their approach. By updating the agreement to take these advancements into account, the USMCA can serve as a template for broader hemispheric digital cooperation, enhancing the uptake regulatory frameworks and standards that are favourable to North American firms.

The USMCA could serve as a central economic pillar of America’s effort to establish hemispheric leadership. By making a resilient North American partnership the foundation for engaging the broader hemisphere, the three countries have an opportunity to anchor the Western Hemisphere in integration and partnership rather than coercion. This approach would present a positive vision for hemispheric leadership, one that recognizes the importance of regional economic and national security but is fundamentally built on mutually beneficial economic cooperation.