USMCA

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told two senators concerned about retaliatory tariffs in India that the U.S. is working on restoring India to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, but that it's slow going. “We’re in the process of restoring it if we can get an adequate counterbalancing proposal from them,” he told Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who had complained that American apples are now taxed at 70% in India because of Section 232 tariffs on metals from that country.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 8-12 in case they were missed.

Importers may want to delay filing for U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement reconciliation because the USMCA currently doesn't allow for post-entry refunds of merchandise processing fees, CBP officials said during a National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones webinar on June 16. Maya Kamar, CBP director for textiles and trade agreements, said that although the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is working with Congress for a legislative fix to the issue, CBP doesn't yet have clarity on whether such a bill will pass (see 2006050034).

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., named two labor activists to the Independent Mexico Labor Expert Board: Cathy Feingold, director of the AFL-CIO international department, and Fred Ross, founder of Neighbor to Neighbor, a grassroots labor rights advocacy group. The 12-member board, established under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, will monitor Mexico's implementation of its labor law revisions. The Senate and House majority and minority leaders will each appoint two members, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's Labor Advisory Committee will select four. Members serve six-year terms.

While most of the focus on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement has been on the changes to the auto rules of origin and enforcement measures aimed at Mexico, Crowell & Moring lawyers explained that importers and exporters of textiles and chemicals also can take advantage of rules that changed from NAFTA for inclusion in the updated agreement.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said recent actions Mexico took to block the import of biotechnology and pesticides (see 2006040031) make him think the U.S. will have to start a state-to-state dispute as soon as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement takes effect. “USMCA follows the principle that that is the very foundation of our international agreements on trade, that everything should be science-based,” he said, in response to a question from International Trade Today. “And science shows that Mexico’s decision is a political decision and not a scientific decision.”

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 1-5 in case they were missed.

The implementing bill for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement did not allow for merchandise processing fees to be refunded in response to a post-importation preference claim, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., has introduced a bill that would fix that. The bill was introduced June 3. The replacement agreement for NAFTA will take effect on July 1, and CBP officials have said they hope this fix can be done by that time (see 2005220050).

An interim final rule explaining how the Department of Labor will certify how much of a vehicle's production came from workers making at least $16 an hour has been sent to the Office and Management and Budget for review, the final step before issuance. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at OMB received the rule on June 1.

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:​