The International Trade Commission published notices in the Aug. 9 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent or other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):
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 climate, healthcare and tax bill called the Inflation Reduction Act did not change the terms of an electric vehicle tax credit, even after fierce lobbying by automakers (see 2208040045).
As automakers lobby for a longer phase-in for requirements regarding North American content in EV batteries and sourcing of critical minerals, some trade groups are saying that stretch goals -- along with government funding in the Inflation Reduction Act -- are what's needed to create a new supply chain outside of China.
Canada's trade minister, Mary Ng, announced that Canada will launch a USMCA dispute with the U.S. over the continued antidumping and countervailing duties on some Canadian softwood lumber exports.
The dispute panel grappled with what Mexico characterized as "the heart of the dispute" in its second day of a hearing about whether Canada and Mexico or the U.S. is right about one aspect of the complex USMCA auto rules of origin.
Dispute panelists chosen by the U.S., Canada and Mexico grappled with whether Mexico and Canada should have understood the implications of how core parts origination could be established as they negotiated the language in the automotive annex and the standard rules of origin chapter in the USMCA.
In filings at the USMCA Secretariat, Mexico and Canada say the Uniform Regulations for USMCA are clear, and say that " roll-up applies to the calculation of [regional value content] RVC for a vehicle. It obliges Parties to take 'no account' of the non-originating materials contained in an originating good when that good is used in the subsequent production of another good."
Senate Finance Committee members praised the experience of Doug McKalip, the administration's nominee to be chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. McKalip, a senior adviser on international trade policy and other matters to the agriculture secretary, is a career staffer at USDA.
A controversial electric vehicle purchase tax credit (see 2203010064) that was limited to cars and trucks assembled in U.S. plants by union workers has been changed to a tax credit that says the vehicle has to have final assembly in North America. Purchases of new clean vehicles (they can include fuel cells, not just EVs) are eligible for a $7,500 tax credit for buyers whose joint income is below $300,000 or an individual taxpayer with a modified adjusted gross income of $150,000 or less.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai asked for consultations with Mexico over a 2021 amendment to Mexico's Electric Power Industry Law that privileges the state-owned electric utility, and over 2019 and June 2022 actions that privilege PEMEX, Mexico's state-owned oil and gas company.