North America’s trade system works because trucks keep it moving. Every day, trucks link factories, warehouses, ports, retailers and consumers across Canada, Mexico and the United States.

That is why the review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement – known as USMCA in the US, CUSMA in Canada and T-MEC in Mexico – matters so much for logistics. It’s a chance to fix practical problems that slow freight down, raise costs and make supply chains less predictable.

Trucks move around 70% of the value of North American trade. When border crossings slow, rules change or uncertainty increases, trucking feels the impact first. But hurdles at ports of entry quickly become delays for manufacturers, exporters, importers and consumers.

The agreement has helped lock in North America’s trade integration. It has supported regional production networks built over decades. But several key promises remain unfinished. These include better border harmonization, stronger digital systems and more consistent enforcement.

USMCA’s review is not just a technical trade exercise. For North American trucking, it raises a bigger question: will the region continue to function as an integrated market, or shift toward a more fragmented bilateral model?

For logistics operators, the answer matters. North American manufacturing depends on cross-border supply chains. Parts, components and finished goods often move several times across borders before reaching customers.

A revised trade deal should focus on what makes freight move better. That means modern border processes, coordinated inspections, real-time data exchange and trusted systems that allow compliant freight to move faster.

Trucking bodies have already identified several priorities. These include visa application challenges, English language requirements, the need to restore and expand joint US-Mexico cargo inspections, and the development of a regional single-window system for data manifests. Such a system should work across North America, not just bilaterally.

The industry is also calling for better and stronger regulatory alignment, coordinated inspections at land ports of entry, and supply chain-level trusted trader certification with government and industry working as partners. These practical fixes can reduce bottlenecks and improve industry compliance, enforcement and security. 

North America has a major advantage: much of its trade moves by road. In a world of maritime disruptions, geopolitical shocks and fragile supply chains, that gives the region resilience. But resilience depends on rules, infrastructure and border systems that support real-world logistics and provide a high level of operational certainty.

A revised trade deal must make cross-border freight faster, smarter and more predictable. That is the real test of the USMCA review.

 

Through its North American Transportation Forum, known as NATF, IRU brings together senior executives from major North American carriers to exchange views on cross-border operational challenges and policy.

 

At recent dialogues held in Washington, D.C., and Mexico City, participants were clear in supporting USMCA and in calling for the agreement to remain in good standing during the review process.

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IRU will continue to bring industry leaders together around a clear goal: preserving integrated North American trade, fixing what slows it down, and helping compliant freight move faster and more predictably.

About IRU
IRU, the world road transportation organization, is the voice of more than 3.5 million companies providing mobility and logistics services. Founded almost 80 years ago, IRU drives safe, efficient and green road transport via a network of association and corporate members in more than 100 countries.

In North America, IRU’s NATF, run in partnership with its members ATA (United States), CANACAR (Mexico) and CTA (Canada), brings together leading carriers, shippers and logistics companies that run cross-border services in the region.