Canada

The Trump administration is pushing to ensure the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement enters into force by June 1, sources familiar with the plan told Inside U.S. Trade.

The White House last week formed interagency committees to help facilitate the enforcement of environmental obligations and provisions on trade in auto goods in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

The House on Thursday passed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s implementing bill 385-41, setting up the Trump administration's signature trade deal for Senate consideration – and ratification – in 2020.

This dispute is one of four pending appeals the Appellate Body will finish following its paralysis last week.

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement protocol of amendment signed by the three countries last week is drawing praise from labor analysts and business representatives for its tweaks to some provisions in the original deal, but the efficacy of a new rapid-response enforcement tool is stirring some concern.

The Senate Finance Committee will not hold a mock markup of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement implementing bill, trade subcommittee Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) said on Thursday, lamenting what he called a break from decades of precedent.

BRT: “We are very disappointed that the deal announced yesterday removes or weakens important intellectual property protections.”

Public Citizen's Lori Wallach said the deal was “not the template for future agreements, but establishes the floor from which we will continue to advocate for a new model of trade and globalization.”

At a signing ceremony for an addendum to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Tuesday, Mexico’s chief trade negotiator disputed “declarations” he said were made in the U.S. by insisting Mexico did not accept a labor-enforcement mechanism involving the deployment of U.S. inspectors.