What Is The Usmca Trade Agreement
The provisions of the Convention cover a wide range of agricultural products, homelessness, industrial products, working conditions and digital commerce. Among the most important aspects of the agreement are improving U.S. dairy farmers` access to the Canadian market, guidelines for a greater proportion of automobiles produced in the three countries and not imported from other countries, and maintaining the dispute settlement system, which is similar to that contained in NAFTA. [35] [38] For the first time, the agreement is specifically aimed at agricultural biotechnology to support 21st century innovations in agriculture. The text covers all biotechnology, including new technologies such as gene processing, while the trans-Pacific Partnership text covered only traditional rDNA technology. In particular, the United States, Mexico and Canada have agreed on provisions to improve information exchange and cooperation on trade-related issues in agricultural biotechnology. The agreement is the result of a renegotiation between the member states of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which gave informal agreement on 30 September 2018 and officially on 1 October under the new agreement. [10] The USMCA was proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and signed on November 30, 2018 by Trump, Mexican President Enrique Pea Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a secondary event of the 2018 G20 summit in Buenos Aires. A revised version was signed on December 10, 2019 and ratified by the three countries, with final ratification (Canada) taking place on March 13, 2020 just before the Canadian Parliament adjourned due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States, Mexico and Canada have accepted non-discrimination and transparency obligations in sales and distribution, as well as labelling and certification provisions, to avoid technical barriers to trade in distilled wine and spirits. They agreed to continue to recognize bourbon whiskey, tennessee whiskey, tequila, mezcal and Canadian whiskey as distinctive products. NAFTA required automakers to produce 62.5 per cent of the vehicle`s content in North America in order to qualify for a zero tariff.
With the new agreement, this threshold will be increased to 75 per cent over time. This should force automakers to buy fewer parts for a “Assembled in Mexico” car in Germany, Japan, South Korea or China. The pact also requires that 70 per cent of a vehicle`s steel and aluminum come from North America, with steel both melted and poured onto the continent. On December 10, 2019, the three countries reached a revised USMCA agreement. On January 29, 2020, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Chrystia Freeland introduced the USMCA C-4 Transposition Act in the House of Commons[93] and passed the first reading without a registered vote. On February 6, the bill passed second reading in the House of Commons by 275 votes to 28, with the Bloc Québécois voting against and all other parties voting in its favour, and it was referred to the Standing Committee on International Trade. [99] [100] [101] On 27 February 2020, the committee voted to send the bill to Parliament for third reading, without amendments. In order to facilitate the marketing of food and agricultural products, Mexico and the United States agreed that the classification of standards and services for all agricultural products would not be discriminatory and would engage in a dialogue to address issues related to classification and quality of trade.
On the basis of NAFTA, the United States, Mexico and Canada agreed to cooperate in other forums on agricultural issues, improve transparency and hold consultations on trade-related issues between countries. The Trump administration`s U.S. office