The footnote in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that says that the U.S. could change its de minimis level to match Canada's and Mexico's levels was roundly rejected by the Senate Finance Committee on July 30, when the topic was one of the most-discussed aspects of the deal. Paula Barnett, owner of Paula Elaine Barnett jewelry, was the first witness who testified, and she told the committee that she does not want U.S. de minimis levels lowered, because she doesn't have to pay tariffs when goods are returned from outside the country, and because she purchases opals from Mexico, and those purchases are under the $800 threshold.
A Democrat from Texas and one from the San Diego area led a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging a vote on the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement, as the new NAFTA is called, before the end of 2019. Rep. Colin Allred, who defeated a Republican incumbent in the Dallas suburbs, and Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., sent the letter July 26.
Several leaders of the New Democrat Coalition met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer late July 25, and told him that they want him to treat negotiations with the working group on the new NAFTA with a sense of urgency. "Congress members are starting to say, 'Let's get down to brass tacks and figure out how specifically these issues can be addressed," said Rep. Derek Kilmer, chairman of the New Democrats. Kilmer, D-Wash., who described the meeting in a short hallway interview after it concluded, said Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas, and Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., also met with Lighthizer.
At a press conference attended by dozens of pro-USMCA trade groups, U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas Donohue said his group is optimistic that the trade pact will get a vote in September. Donohue held his fingers an inch apart and said, "Lighthizer and Nancy Pelosi are this close," he said, referring to negotiations on changes to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and the Speaker of the House. Donohue said the Chamber is "very, very willing to move forward" with small fixes, which he characterized as "ornaments on the tree."
Of the 10 Congress members who traveled to Mexico last weekend to evaluate the NAFTA rewrite as part of a congressional delegation, one was already planning to vote for the deal, others were leaning yes, and some others have always opposed free trade deals. For some of those who were leaning yes, their conversations with government officials and institutions that tackle environmental problems near the border moved them closer to voting yes. For others who were already skeptical, they returned even more skeptical.
Could Florida's 27-member delegation vote no on the new NAFTA because seasonality provisions for antidumping laws didn't make it into the agreement? There "certainly have been conversations about that," according to Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a pro-trade Democrat from Florida, who added, "And I think Georgia is another one of the states that is deeply interested in seeing a resolution."
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 8-12 in case they were missed.
While Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., says progress is being made in the weekly meetings with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, he said he doubts the working group and USTR will have a meeting of the minds on any of the four planks they're negotiating on in the NAFTA rewrite. The issues outstanding are enforcement, the environment, labor and the biologic drug exclusivity period.
Leaders of the generally pro-trade New Democrat Coalition warned the U.S. trade representative not to send an implementing bill for the new NAFTA to Congress on July 9. Rep. Derek Kilmer, chairman of the New Dems, and Rep. Gregory Meeks, co-chairman of the group's trade task force, spoke to reporters July 8 about why they sent a letter that day to USTR warning him off.
Even as one panelist said the changes to NAFTA won't really affect her Fortune 500 company, other panelists at the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference June 27 in Washington agreed that the deal's rewrite is important for the precedent it sets in future trade negotiations.