Will the USMCA Help or Hurt ExxonMobil and Its Peers?

You might not usually think of the U.S. energy industry and the USMCA -- the proposed U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade deal that's been called "new NAFTA" and "NAFTA 2.0" -- at the same time.

Trade matters, though, to oil and gas producers. The U.S. is not only the world's leading producer of oil and gas, but it also became a net exporter of petroleum for the first time in September. It's now essentially tied with Saudi Arabia as the biggest oil exporter in the world.

A lot of that oil and gas heads to Canada and Mexico. Fully 29.2% of exported petroleum and 75% of exported natural gas heads to one of our two neighbors. That makes the Canadian and Mexican markets vitally important for the five biggest U.S. oil producers ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) and numerous smaller producers, too.