Brazil, the largest exporter of semifinished steel to Mexico after the U.S., won't be subject to the melted and poured restriction the two countries recently announced, the Mexican government disclosed last week. Aluminum cast in Brazil and steel melted and poured there won't be subject to Section 232 tariffs if they are processed in Mexico and exported to the U.S.

The government of Mexico has asked the U.S. to exempt Mexican bifacial solar panels from a global safeguard tariff. Economy Secretary Raquel Buenrostro noted that USMCA, or T-MEC, as they call it in Mexico, has rules in this regard. The July 12 press release didn't spell it out, but safeguards are only to be applied to Mexico and Canada if their imports are integral to the injury to U.S. producers; the U.S. eventually reversed the solar panel safeguard on all Canadian panels (see 2207070041).

A former top trade negotiator in Mexico, Juan Carlos Baker Pineda, said he doesn't think the review of the USMCA will be about fine-tuning or technical changes to the trade pact.

Canada this week launched a 30-day consultation period as it decides whether to impose additional duties or take other measures against Chinese electronic vehicle imports. The consultations, which began July 2 and will run through Aug. 1, “seek views on potential policy responses,” Canada said, including new tariffs on a range of battery, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell electric vehicles.

Almost three years after environmental groups asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to ask the tri-national Commission on Environmental Cooperation to establish a formal factual record of Mexico's failure to enforce its ban on gillnets in the Upper Gulf of California in Mexico (see 2108130052), that commission will begin such a fact-finding mission.

The EU applauded a recent move by the U.S. to lift restrictions on certain plant imports from 21 member states after finding the regions were free from two pests (see 2406110052), and it's asking the U.S. to continue removing the restrictions for other EU countries. The European Commission said it helped “negotiate the removal” of the U.S. import restrictions, which "underscores the cooperative efforts between the EU and US to ensure the safety and quality of traded agricultural products." But it noted that Finland, Austria, Croatia, France, Germany and Italy are still under restrictions. "The Commission continues to work with the US on the EU’s remaining demand," it said.

Canada's Trade Minister Mary Ng, under questions from parties to the left and right of her Liberal party, as well as the Québécois party, said the fact that there are outstanding disagreements between Canada and the U.S. on U.S. trade remedies on softwood lumber, on auto rules of origin and on Canadian dairy import restrictions does not mean that Canada will get big-footed in the free trade review.

The Canada Border Services Agency has reached a tentative labor agreement with union members working for the agency, staving off a potential strike or work stoppage (see 2406100049). The renewed collective agreement will apply to approximately 11,000 employees after it’s ratified, according to a June 11 release from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

The trade is watching whether more than 9,000 Canada Border Service Agency workers will go on strike on Wednesday should the impasse on labor contract negotiations continue.

China will place export controls starting June 1 on various military and dual-use equipment, software and technology, including items used in the aerospace and shipbuilding industries, along with “ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers,” the country’s commerce Ministry said May 30, according to an unofficial translation.