While apparel industry groups have gripes with USMCA, they prefer it to be preserved as it currently stands rather than risk the uncertainty of renegotiation.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable and other major voices of business said Section 232 tariffs applied to Canadian and Mexican goods that meet USMCA eligibility are a clear violation of the pact, and need to end. The business groups, which opened the second day of an Interagency hearing on what the U.S. should prioritize in next year's USMCA review, also emphasized how imports from and exports to Mexico and Canada are essential for domestic manufacturing.
Specialty crop interests testifying at the first of three days of hearings on UMSCA Dec. 3 disagreed on whether duty-free access for Mexican imports should continue, and protectionists' arguments were echoed by Global Trade Watch.
Think tank scholars and lawyers emphasized that Section 232 tariffs on Mexican and Canadian autos, steel, aluminum and lumber are engendering rancor and suspicion, and the uncertainty of future tariffs levels on Mexican and Canadian imports is a silent tax causing businesses to halt investments and expansions.
Manufacturing trade groups and companies mostly argued in comments to the U.S. Trade Representative that USMCA rules of origin for their sectors shouldn't change as part of the pact's review, and if they do, it should be only after extensive consultation with industry, and with adequate transition times.
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Nov. 20, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
As CBP ramps up enforcement, the agency often seems to be heading straight for penalties, as witnessed anecdotally by the trend to send out more notices of action, or CF-29 forms, instead of informing importers of possible errors, according to trade experts speaking on a Nov. 20 webinar hosted by logistics company Expeditors.
The Congressional Budget Office updated its estimate of how much tariffs would reduce the federal deficit, if they stayed in place for 10 years, now saying they would reduce it by $2.5 trillion rather than $3.3 trillion (not counting saved interest costs).
A think tank says a surgical modernization of CAFTA-DR is the best approach for the future of the free trade agreement, though allowing Central American countries or the Dominican Republic to join USMCA is another option.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register Nov. 19 on the following antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CVD rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):