House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., and 62 other Republican members, including Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to open a formal dispute under USMCA over Mexico's treatment of biotech corn imports.
USMCA
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement is a free trade agreement between the three countries, also known as CUSMA in Canada and T-MEC in Mexico. Replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2020, the agreement contains a unique sunset provision where, after six years (in 2026), any of the three parties may decide not to continue the agreement in its current form and begin a period of up to 10 years where USMCA provisions may be renegotiated.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
An automotive parts casting foundry, part of a Mexican industrial conglomerate known as Grupo Industrial Saltillo, is the subject of the latest rapid response labor complaint from the U.S., as the administration argues that the approximately 500 workers at the Draxton foundry in Irapuato, Guanajuato, were harassed and intimidated when they tried to organize a new union. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative also says the workers had to vote on a contract in 2022 without seeing it, and they still don't have a copy of the contract.
Mexico, Canada and the U.S. will hold a USMCA Labor Council virtual public session on implementation of the treaty's labor chapter on June 29. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is inviting comments ahead of the meeting, and asking for registration to participate in the two-and-a-half-hour virtual meeting that begins at 1 p.m. EDT. Registration details will be available on the USTR and Department of Labor websites starting June 1. Comments should be sent to ILAB-Outreach@DOL.gov and MBX.USTR.USMCAhotline@ustr.eop.gov with the subject line USMCA Labor Council Meeting.
CBP's Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) will next meet June 14 in Arlington, Virginia, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by June 9.
An International Trade Commission study of foreign-trade zones, and how U.S. policy supports or undermines their effectiveness, gave some support for the argument free trade zone advocates have made about using FTZs as a staging area for de minimis shipments, but suggested that complaints about treatment under USMCA were overblown.
The Biden administration is using the USMCA rapid response mechanism in the case of a Goodyear factory in San Luis Potosí, arguing that the way Goodyear can ensure its tires' eligibility for tariff benefits is to grant the countrywide rubber workers' contract.
Senate Finance International Trade Subcommittee Chairman Tom Carper, D-Del., said he would like to hold a future hearing on the Americas Act, a proposal from Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., to liberalize trade with Central American, Caribbean and South American countries (see 2301110045 and 2301130042), and to pay for grants and subsidized loans for countries reshoring or nearshoring out of China with changes to de minimis law. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., is a co-sponsor of the bill.
The negotiations between Europe and the U.S. to create an arrangement that would discourage imports of dirty steel, or steel made from uneconomic excess capacity, "have a long way to go," American Iron and Steel Institute CEO Kevin Dempsey said, speaking to reporters May 16 at AISI's general meeting.
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted to CBP's website May 15, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.