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USMCA

20 posts

First Rapid Response Labor Panel Begins Work under USMCA

Many readers will know that the United States called for the very first panel under the USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) at the end of August. One month in, the panel has been busy. This post briefly summarizes the panel’s work so far and makes a few preliminary

The U.S. “Worker-Centered Trade Policy” is helping some workers in Mexico but not in America

This Labor Day post seeks to shed light on the Biden administration’s “worker-centered” trade policy. It argues that the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) misses a critical opportunity to strengthen workers’ rights in America. The agreement’s provisions exclude protections for the most vulnerable workers in

Will the Biden Administration Add the Paris Agreement to the USMCA List of Environmental Agreements?

I've complained before about the lack of transparency in bilateral and regional trade agreements, so I appreciate the public virtual session of the Inaugural Meeting of the Environment Committee of the USMCA/CUSMA/T-MEC. And I appreciate our excellent Cato Trade Policy Center RA Alfredo Carrillo Obregon

The Lack of Transparency of FTA Commissions and Committees

The first USMCA Free Trade Commission meeting finished up last week. Here is the trilateral statement summarizing what happened: During the [the first meeting of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) Free Trade Commission (FTC) on May 18, 2021], the Ministers reviewed the work already underway to advance our

Biden’s Worker-Centered Trade Policy: Whose Workers?

As Simon mentioned in an earlier post, various labor-related complaints and requests under USMCA are “heating up.” This activity reinforces the Biden Administration’s new “worker-centered trade policy” that, according to USTR Ambassador Katherine Tai, “will foster broad-based, equitable growth, increase innovation, and give workers a seat

US Solar Safeguard: How much discretion is too much?

Yesterday Canada requested consultations under USMCA regarding the “imposition and ongoing application” to Canada of the US safeguard measure on solar measures. Canada argues that the application of the safeguard to Canada violates the US obligation to exclude USMCA Parties from the scope of the safeguard unless imports from that

The ITC's USMCA Report: Reducing "Policy Uncertainty" is the Key Factor

This seems to be a key part of the ITC's USMCA report (pp. 43, 58): Of the eight USMCA components included in the economy-wide model, provisions that reduce policy uncertainty about international data flows, cross-border services, and investment, as well as certain automotive rules of origin,

The ITC's USMCA Report: The IP Section

This is from the IP section of the ITC's USMCA report (starts on p. 213): Modeling of Changes to Key IPR Provisions The Commission’s quantitative assessment of the effects of key IPR changes in USMCA identifies the statistical relationships between trade in certain IPR-intensive manufacturing sectors

The ITC's USMCA Report: The ISDS Section

This is the ISDS section of the ITC's USMCA report (starts on p. 199, footnotes omitted): Modeling of Changes to Key ISDS Provisions The Commission’s quantitative assessment of the ISDS provisions sought to identify how the changes in ISDS provisions could affect the U.S. economy as

Highlights of the ITC Report on the USMCA's "Likely Impact on the U.S. Economy and on Specific Industry Sectors"

Here's the headline number from today's ITC report on the impact of USMCA: The Commission’s model estimates that USMCA would raise U.S. real GDP by $68.2 billion (0.35 percent) and U.S. employment by 176,000 jobs (0.12 percent). The model