A bipartisan bill was introduced in the House to ask the U.S. trade representative to push Mexico and Canada to establish an investment screening regime and coordinate on "shared threats from investments in strategically important economic sectors and critical infrastructure in North America."
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Agriculture Department announced on Dec. 12 that Mexico had agreed to release water from the Rio Grande to Texas farmers. This irritant had caused President Donald Trump to threaten Dec. 8 to hike International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs on Mexico from 25% to 30% (see 2512090013). Those tariffs apply to goods that don't qualify under USMCA, and are not subject to Section 232 tariffs.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Steve Verheul, Canada's chief trade negotiator during President Donald Trump's first term, who worked on NAFTA's replacement, says Canada wants a trade pact that has known rules, and whose stability allows companies to make long-term plans.
The House Select Committee on China agreed that the Bureau of Industry and Security's connected vehicle rule, which was issued at the end of the Biden administration but starts to bite in mid-March, should be codified.
Mexico’s Senate this week voted 76-5, with 35 abstentions, to approve new higher tariffs on a range of products imported from China and other countries that don't have free trade agreements with Mexico, according to an unofficial translation of the Senate's news release.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he expects the U.S. will announce more trade deals, and release text about previously announced framework deals "in the coming weeks."
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer signaled that the Trump administration is preparing a broad overhaul of key parts of the USMCA, focusing on changing non-automobile rules of origin to incentivize U.S. production.
Expanding access to manifest data from sources to include air cargo manifests and other transportation modes could provide the public and trade stakeholders with greater ability to ferret out forced labor in the supply chain, said Laura Murphy, senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Human Rights Initiative, in a Dec. 8 blog post.