On October 1, 2018, the US, Canada and Mexico reached an agreement to update the the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), with the new deal being named the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. Under its so-called “poison pill” provision, if any of the three countries in the USMCA enters a trade deal with a “non-market country”, the other two are free to quit in six months and form their own bilateral trade deal.

On October 16, the SIAS jointly held a seminar on the implications of the USMCA deal and China’s response, together with the Institute of International Relations (IIR) at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS). The meeting was co-chaired by Hu Hua, SIAS Executive Director, and Wang Jian, Director of the IIR. Experts and scholars from several local academic institutions and media outlets attended the meeting, including the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS), Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and Xinhua News Agency Shanghai Bureau.

Those whom participated shared their ideas on the possible impact of the “poison pill” provision on China, the China-US trade dispute, China’s foreign trade and its reforms at home, among other issues.