Mexico’s Supreme Court should affirm a draft ruling that would reverse a ban on potato imports from the U.S., the National Potato Council said last week. The ban stems from a lower court ruling siding with a Mexican potato cartel that argued the government has no authority to allow the imports. The high court's draft ruling rejected that argument, saying the government “broadly has the authority to make such a determination” and “acted appropriately,” the NPC said. The Supreme Court is expected to make a final decision Feb. 24. U.S. potato access in Mexico has been one of the NPC’s “highest priorities” for over two decades, the group said. “We are hopeful the majority of justices will agree with this draft ruling and finally allow the Mexican government to live up to its global trade responsibilities,” Jared Balcom, the NPC’s vice president-trade affairs, said in a statement. Despite the trade restrictions, Mexico ranks as the second-largest market for fresh potato exports, the NPC said.

Costa Rica recently issued a trade decree intended to “facilitate the application” of various tariff and trade agreements, a Feb. 19 KPMG post said. Under the decree, traders will soon be able to submit certificates of origin electronically, KPMG said, and Costa Rica’s national customs system won’t require commercial invoices and other trade-related certifications to be authenticated. The decree also includes time frames for traders to correct their certificates of origin, outlines which “mechanisms” are used to request custom duty refunds, and establishes “parameters that customs control documents must satisfy.”

CBP extended its travel restrictions on the northern and southern borders through March 21, it said in two notices. The travel bans do not apply to cargo, and exempt crossing the border from Canada or Mexico to work in the U.S.

Following Canada's imposition of restrictions on trade with China's Xinjiang region, stemming from the use of forced labor and other human rights violations, industry is expressing anxiety over its ability to come into full compliance with the new regulations, a lawyer said. Cliff Sosnow, partner at Fasken, told Export Compliance Daily that Canada's new regulations are meant to make it harder on importers to import goods with links to Xinjiang and to ramp up the pressure on companies to show due diligence in regard to the sanctity of their supply chains.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Feb. 12 (some may also be given separate headlines):

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Feb. 10 (some may also be given separate headlines):

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Feb. 8 (some may also be given separate headlines):

The importance and size of the Mexico-U.S. trading relationship does not receive enough recognition in the U.S., Mexico's outgoing ambassador to the U.S., Martha Barcena, said Feb. 5 during an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Mexico is the U.S.'s no. 1 trading partner, she said, and the economies are inexorably linked, with the automobile supply chain as just one example of it. One piece of a car will cross the border an average of seven times before final assembly, she said.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Feb. 5 (some may also be given separate headlines):

Honduras set a 118,800 metric ton import quota for certain rice for 2021 in response to the impacts of hurricanes Eta and Iota on local rice production, according to a Jan. 29 U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report. The country began issuing import licenses last month, USDA said, and they will be valid until Dec. 31. USDA said U.S. rice exporters should contact their clients in Honduras to determine what volume of rice imports they have been allocated.