NAFTA Ministers to Consider Further Liberalization of Origin Rules, Work on Labor/Environment, Etc.

(The NAFTA FTC is comprised of the ministers responsible for trade from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, currently, USTR Kirk, Canadian Minister of International Trade Day, and Mexican Secretary of Economy Mateos. The FTC is responsible for the implementation of the NAFTA.)

NAFTA Ministers Looking for New Ways to Promote Trade

While trade between the NAFTA countries more than tripled from 1993 to 2008, going from $297 billion to $946.1 billion, the trade ministers are committed to developing new and creative ways to promote trade such as reducing unnecessary regulatory differences.

The following are the actions and commitments the NAFTA trade ministers agreed to take:

Seek agreement for add'l origin rules liberalization. They instructed the Working Group on Rules of Origin (WGRO) to continue its work to liberalize the NAFTA rules of origin, with a view to reaching agreement at the working level early in 2010. (The leaders noted that they had recently implemented a third set of liberalizing changes to the NAFTA rules of origin, as well as technical rectifications to align the NAFTA rules of origin with the updated tariff schedules resulting from the 2007 amendments to the nomenclature of the Harmonized System. See ITT's Online Archives or 10/08/09 and 09/02/09 news, 09100805 and 09090210, for BP summaries.)

Environmental goods origin rules. They also asked the WGRO to examine the rules of origin for environmental goods in order to determine whether liberalization of the rules of origin for such products would facilitate additional trade, taking into account discussions at the WTO.

Collaboration on environment & labor. The trade ministers agreed to seek to strengthen the relationship between the NAFTA FTC and the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC, led on the U.S. side by EPA Administrator Jackson) and the North American Commission for Labor Cooperation (CLC, led on the U.S. side by Labor Secretary Solis), in order to ensure that the benefits of the NAFTA economic relationship are widely shared and sustainable.

They agreed to establish an ad hoc working group composed of senior trade officials to explore areas of potential collaboration between the FTC and the CEC and designated senior trade officials to enhance collaboration between the FTC and CLC.

Counterfeiting, piracy. Since 2007, officials from the three countries have worked together to develop a coordinated strategy aimed at combating counterfeiting and piracy by focusing on enhancing detection and deterrence, expanding public awareness and outreach efforts, and measuring the scope and magnitude of counterfeiting and piracy in North America. They commend this work and reaffirm their commitment to cooperate in the protection of intellectual property rights to facilitate the development of innovative economies.

Textiles and apparel. The trade ministers commended the work of the Textiles and Apparel Working Group and have asked the group to explore ways to expand trade in this sector.

Sectoral initiatives. They also commend the work of the North American Steel Trade Committee, which promotes continued cooperation among the three governments on international steel policy matters; serves as a consultative mechanism for regular exchanges of information and review of progress on matters of mutual interest or concern; and works to reduce remaining distortions in the North American steel market. This successful sectoral initiative can be a model for additional areas.

Small business. Recognizing that smaller, newer firms are most likely to make their first exports to a NAFTA partner, they have instructed their officials to report on the experience of small and medium-sized enterprises under NAFTA and opportunities for the NAFTA work agenda to address the needs of such businesses and their workers. They will receive this report at the next Ministerial meeting in 2010.

Alternative dispute resolution. The trade ministers recognize that the availability of private commercial dispute resolution procedures plays an important role in creating competitive conditions for trade in goods, services and capital and that the judiciaries of each country have an important role to play in effective private commercial dispute resolution procedures. They are encouraged by the work of the NAFTA 2022 Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Disputes and endorse its intent to focus forthcoming outreach activities on the judiciaries of each country to promote alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in NAFTA.

Promote understanding of NAFTA. The trade ministers also agreed to establish an ad hoc Working Group on Communications and Outreach to promote greater understanding of the NAFTA and its benefits.

(Mexico will host the next NAFTA FTC meeting in 2010.)

USTR press release (dated 10/19/09) available at http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/blog/ambassador-kirk-hosts-nafta-free-trade-commission

Joint statement (dated 10/19/09) available at http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/press-releases/2009/october/joint-statement-2009-nafta-commission-meeting

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada press release (dated 10/19/09) available at http://news.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do;jsessionid=ac1b105330d7bf8cd48d10294ffbacd5b7d2630efb60.e38RbhaLb3qNe38TaxuMa30Oai0?crtr.sj1D=&mthd=tp&crtr.mnthndVl=&nid=490629&crtr.dpt1D=&crtr.tp1D=1&crtr.lc1D=&crtr.yrStrtVl=&crtr.kw=&crtr.dyStrtVl=&crtr.aud1D=&crtr