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38 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2026 TA R I F F T E R M I N A L For most of the past five years, the U.S.– Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) has been the workhorse of the North American electronics supply chain. It is the legal backbone that allows a PCB fab- ricated in Asia to be populated in Mexico, tested in Texas, and shipped to a Canadian OEM without any- one paying a tariff at any of the three borders. That arrangement is now up for review, and the outcome will matter to anyone in electronics manufacturing who depends on cross-border production. What the Six-Year Review Is, and Why July 1 Matters USMCA's Article 34.7 requires the three govern- ments to jointly review the agreement six years after it took effect. The deadline is July 1, 2026. Each country must decide one of three things: renew the agreement for another 16 years, with- draw (on six months' notice), or continue the agreement without renewing it, in which case the USMCA stays in force but enters annual reviews until 2036, when it expires unless all three govern- ments agree to extend. NAFTA, by contrast, had no formal review mecha- nism at all. It is one of the reasons it could not adapt to e-commerce, digital trade, or AI. The six-year re- view is a USMCA innovation, and even if it produces stress, the fact that it exists is a feature, not a bug. The bad news: A clean, on-time renewal by July 1 now looks unlikely. U.S. Trade Representa- tive Jamieson Greer has told the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees that he is not prepared to recommend renewal without meaningful changes, particularly to automotive BY JA M ES K I M , A R E N T F OX S C H I F F L L P The USMCA Six-Year Review Why Electronics Manufacturers Should Be Paying Attention