Trade Groups Ask Tai to Enforce USMCA Provisions Against Mexico
The Alliance for Trade Enforcement, an umbrella group, joined by 18 business groups representing food and candy manufacturers, tech and telecom, energy, pharma and others, is asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to pressure Mexico to reverse some policies or not to pass others that it says violate the new free trade agreement.
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In a March 24 letter, the groups say that Mexico has not allowed periodic payment of duties, has not removed the local broker rule, and has not fully simplified processing for shipments up to $2,500. They also say that Mexico's June 2020 increase of its “Tasa Global” for goods entering under informal entry or de minimis does not comply with Mexico's agreement to make its de minimis level more generous.
In terms of market access, the groups said, “Over the last year, the Government of Mexico has introduced, and in some cases finalized, many laws, regulations, decrees, and standards that put U.S. companies at a sharp disadvantage vis-à-vis their Mexican competitors. The range of U.S. industries impacted by these actions is vast, and the list of obstacles has grown steadily.”
They ticked off numerous proposed changes in the tech and telecom sector and in energy. They complained that Mexico's pharmaceutical regulator “has delayed approvals of new clinical trials and of new biotherapeutic and biotech agricultural products, and has not been transparent in its regulatory approval processes.”
They said that the new food labeling regulations in Mexico, designed to fight obesity in the country, violate the Technical Barriers to Trade chapter. The nutritional labeling is required as of April 1. “These new standards threaten the market access guaranteed by the USMCA and could violate Mexico’s USMCA commitments by making it harder for American manufacturers to export U.S.-made food and beverages to Mexico. Product relabeling on an enterprise-wide scale, such as those required under Mexico’s new rules, is an onerous, costly, and time-consuming process, taking over 12 months. Food reformulation can take multiple years. The states of Oaxaca and Tabasco went further and outright banned pre-packaged foods and beverages to minors, treating such products in the same way as alcohol and cigarettes,” the letter complains.
The alliance said it is hopeful Tai can “put a stop to Mexico’s problematic trade practices.”