The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico took effect in 1994, operated for 25 years, and was superseded by ‘USMCA’ in 2020. NAFTA functioned throughout a turbulent global era, was both hailed and maligned for most of its history, and produced threats for its unilateral termination. Yet USMCA substantially followed NAFTA’s example with a needed update rather than a radical departure: “NAFTA v1.1.”

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US government passed in March 2020 the world’s largest economic stimulus at 13% of US GDP. One-third of a year later, the funds had been mostly exhausted with the S&P500 hovering near an all-time high and economic recovery varying widely across industries. Yet unemployment continued to exceed that of the 2008 Great Recession, and US deaths approached 150,000.

In March 2020, the US government passed three bills providing financial support in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The $2.3 T stimulus package was the world’s largest at 13% of US GDP. However, this was not all; the Federal Reserve Bank (‘Fed’) loosened monetary policy and dramatically reversed interest rates, while the largest bill, the CARES Act, made funds available until the end of July. It was clear that panic over economic health overlapped with that over physical death.