Investing.com -- Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley called for changes to the USMCA North American trade deal that would reward domestic vehicle production and penalize automakers that rely heavily on imports.

in a CNBC interview Wednesday, Farley said that the new agreement should make it easier for U.S. manufacturers to compete with companies that import vehicles from Japan and South Korea. He said Ford wants automakers that primarily produce domestically to receive benefits under the deal.

"It's imperative that any new agreement makes it easier, not harder, to compete with U.S. makers who import from Japan, South Korea and global competitors that import from those locations," Farley told CNBC during a phone interview Wednesday. "That's the key for us."

Ford assembled more than 2 million vehicles in the U.S. last year, more than any other auto manufacturer. The company exported 311,000 units to more than 60 international markets and imported 378,000 vehicles, representing 17% of its 2.2 million U.S. sales.

General Motors and Toyota Motor lead U.S. sales while also being the top two importers of vehicles in 2025. GM imported 1.17 million vehicles, or 41% of its U.S. sales. Toyota imported more than 1.19 million units, or 47% of its domestic sales, according to industry data.

"Ford's a leader of U.S. auto production with the most U.S.-built vehicles but, more importantly, we import very few, and we export the most, and we have the most UAW [union] workers here," Farley said. "So we're very proud, especially of the ratio between what we build here and what we import."

The Trump administration decided not to renew its trilateral trade pact with Canada and Mexico. Instead, the administration will conduct annual reviews of the treaty that could lead to an end to the agreement by 2036.

The auto industry represented about 18% of America's trading with Canada and Mexico last year, according to industry data.