Canada's House of Commons approved the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement -- called CUSMA in Canada -- by unanimous consent March 13, before adjourning until April 20th due to coronavirus. The Canadian Senate passed it less than an hour later. The last step of royal assent is a formality. Now, all three countries must continue to work on uniform regulations so that they can certify the treaty is ready to enter into force. Once that certification is issued, NAFTA will be replaced on the first day of the third month after the announcement.
Former acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and former CBP commissioner Kevin McAleenan (see 2003050033) joined private equity firm AE Industrial Partners as an operating partner, the company said in a news release. “He will also be joining the board of directors at AEI portfolio companies Gryphon Technologies and American Pacific Corporation,” it said.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of March 11 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
Argentina updated its export tax regime this month for certain agricultural products, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report released March 9. The changes, announced March 4, increased export tax rates from 30% to 33% for soybeans and soybean products, the USDA said, while wheat, corn and sorghum export rates remained at 12%. Other goods, including corn flour, paddy rice, peanuts and sunflower seeds saw decreases in their export tax rates.
Japan and South Korea held an export control policy dialogue March 10 (see 2002210021) to discuss controls on sensitive technologies and concerns surrounding a trade dispute stemming from last year (see 1907010020), Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said, according to an unofficial translation. Japan said it pushed for “improved” measures surrounding “trade control and technology transfer management in both countries.” The two sides will continue meeting to try to resolve their dispute, discuss “country categories, conventional weapon catch-all systems” and more, Japan said.
China will lift restrictions on imports of certain U.S. nectarines, China’s General Administration of Customs said in a March 4 notice, according to an unofficial translation. China said it will allow nectarines (see 2003100045) that meet certain “quarantine requirements” and published phytosanitary requirements for those imports.
China said it does not think the coronavirus outbreak will cause supply chains to leave the country and have a sustained impact on China’s supply chain base, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said during a March 11 press conference. “The COVID-19 epidemic only affects the Chinese economy in a temporary and limited manner,” the spokesperson said. He added that industry “still has confidence in China's economic prospects and the resilience of our supply and industrial chains,” and said China hasn’t “seen any major movement of supply and industrial chains from China to other countries due to the epidemic.”
China recently took “several additional actions” (see 2002250055) to meet its agricultural purchasing commitments under the phase one U.S.-China trade deal, including lifting restrictions on imports of nectarines and beef, and updating lists of approved U.S. exporting facilities, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a March 10 news release. The USDA also pointed to China’s recent announcement of its tariff exclusion process (see 2002180039), including new exclusions for imported U.S. hardwood products. “These implementation measures are promising steps showing that China is taking steps to fulfill their purchase commitments,” Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement. Perdue expects China to begin fulfilling its agriculture-related purchase commitments by the summer (see 2003040029).
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters that the coronavirus outbreak's impact on China's factories has shown policymakers that the U.S. is too dependent on China for imports. “There ought to be more manufacturing in the United States, but that isn't just on pharmaceuticals, but that could be on anything you're having these supply chains are being interfered with,” he said March 11 in his office at the Capitol.
Forty-six House Republicans, led by Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., told the U.S. trade representative in a letter March 10 that he must get the United Kingdom to agree to import chicken with chlorine or other antimicrobial washes.