Canada is choosing to call for a binational panel to determine whether the countervailing duty order on its softwood lumber exports is fair, but is challenging the antidumping order at the Court of International Trade.
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.
The U.S. government alleges that management at Mas Air, a cargo airline in Mexico City, coerced pilots to retain the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Industria Aeronautica, and asked pilots who had joined the Asociacion Sindical de Pilotos Aviadores de Mexico, or ASPA, to resign.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet remotely Sept. 20, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by Sept. 15.
Canada will participate as a third party in the U.S.-Mexico dispute over Mexico’s ban on genetically engineered corn in tortillas and dough, the country announced Aug. 25. Mary Ng, Canada’s trade minister, said she “shares the concerns of the United States that Mexico is not compliant with the science and risk analysis obligations under” the USMCA’s sanitary and phytosanitary measures chapter. “Canada believes that the measures taken by Mexico are not scientifically supported and have the potential to unnecessarily disrupt trade in the North American market,” Ng said.
The U.S. is asking that a rapid response labor mechanism panel decide whether Grupo Mexico's decision to hire replacement workers after a strike is a violation of union rights covered by the USMCA. The treaty says that the panel must be formed in three days after a request, and that the panel has 30 days to make a determination. This is the first time Mexico and the U.S. have disagreed on remediation after the U.S. filed a rapid response labor complaint, and the first time the U.S. called for a panel.
Mexico said it disagrees with the U.S. government allegation that Grupo Yakazi, an auto parts factory in Guanajuato, was violating the rights of its workers. The U.S. filed the complaint in early August (see 2308070065); the Mexican Economy Secretary announced on Aug. 18 it is rejecting the complaint.
The U.S. has initiated the formation of a dispute settlement panel over Mexico's decree to not allow biotech corn for tortillas and directive to the administration to gradually substitute genetically modified corn in processed foods and in animal feed.
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Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Bárcena, on her first trip to Washington, put USMCA first in her list of priorities, saying that in the less than 14 months left in the administration she is part of, she wants "to be able to bring certainty" in the NAFTA replacement, and to engage across all three countries in various sectors. "It's very important to consolidate this very important economic framework, and to make sure even if we are leaving in 13 months that this can remain as a powerful ... mechanism of trade and investment and economic development and partnership," she said at the Atlantic Council Aug. 10.
Mexico and the U.S. announced remediation for labor rights violations at the Industrias del Interior (INISA) garment factory, in which the company will publicly state it's neutral on workers' union choices, and will not attempt to influence their views on unions "in any way."