U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and his Mexican counterpart said they have a plan to finalize "expanded access to the entire Mexican market no later than May 15 for all U.S. table stock and chipping potatoes according to the agreed workplan."

Brazil recently suspended import tariffs on ethanol and other agricultural products, including cheese, sugar and soybean oil, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a March 24 report. The country specifically decided to cut ethanol tariffs to help “mediate” rising gas prices, the report said. USDA expects the reduced tariffs to benefit U.S. ethanol exporters, who have been “negatively impacted” by Brazilian tariffs since 2017.

Nicaragua recently announced plans to expand its 2022 import quota for chicken meat, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a March 21 report. The country will open another 1,533 metric tons of duty-free access for imported chicken meat to “alleviate price pressures in the domestic market,” the report said. The agency noted that starting Jan. 1, 2023, U.S. chicken exporters will benefit from duty-free access to the Nicaraguan market due to the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement.

USDA is warning exporters to comply with Mexico’s food labeling regulations after the country recently seized and detained several food products at a distribution center for noncompliance, the agency's Foreign Agricultural Service said March 2. USDA said Mexico is specifically looking for imports with front-of-package labeling that omits “necessary warning signs” or places warning signs in “irregular locations.” Mexican authorities are especially “paying close attention” to processed products, USDA said, adding it expects the country to conduct more raids.

Canada will revoke Russia's and Belarus’ most-favored-nation status, subjecting “virtually all” imports from either country to a 35% tariff, the country’s Department of Finance said March 3. Russia and Belarus will join North Korea as the only other countries subject to general tariffs under Canada’s customs law.

Canada is launching a rulemaking process that could result in new restrictions on imports of some plastic manufactured items, USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report Feb. 22. The Canadian Department of the Environment seeks comments by March 14 on a proposed regulation that would set minimum recycled content requirements, following a product-specific approach that would apply different thresholds for recycled content that would generally fall around 50%, USDA said.

Colombia and Canada recently announced antidumping duty and countervailing duty actions and decisions on certain products from mainland China, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Feb. 17. Colombia recently denied a request by a domestic producer to renew the AD order on certain flat‑rolled galvanized steel sheet from China and “adopt an anti‑circumvention measure.” Colombia previously rescinded this order through a sunset review and “terminated a parallel anti‑circumvention review.”

U.S. food and agricultural exports to Panama "surpassed historic records" last year, reaching nearly $200 million more in sales than the previous high in 2019, USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report released Feb. 10. Although agricultural exports increased across all sectors, consumer-oriented goods did particularly well, USDA said, especially dairy, beer, pork and packaged food products. In total, U.S. agricultural exports to Panama reached $946.4 million, the report said, which made Panama the 34th-largest export market for U.S. producers.

The Ambassador Bridge reopened Feb. 14 just after midnight, after protesters blocked the main exit and entrance of the bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit for six days, Canadian press reported. A few hours earlier, the White House said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had spoken with their Canadian counterparts about the issue that day. Auto plants in Michigan shut down temporarily because of the disruption.

The Federal Maritime Commission is seeking additional comments on a petition filed by the Lake Carriers’ Association, which said the Canadian government is imposing “unfavorable” conditions on U.S.-Canada shipping and trade. The FMC initially requested comments after receiving the association’s petition in 2020 but announced a new comment period this week because of recent “developments which impact the Commission’s consideration” of the petition. Comments are due March 7.