The Special Commission for Monitoring the Implementation of the T-MEC (CESITMEC) of the Senate of Mexico issued an alert about possible effects on agricultural exports from Mexico to the United States.

«CESITMEC is seriously concerned about the four investigations on imports of Mexican agricultural products that are currently being carried out by the International Trade Commission (USITC) and that could affect exports of Mexican agricultural products to the United States,» he said.

Although the Mexican government and national industry have promptly followed up on the investigations on squash and cucumber, the reports presented on January 6 may encourage the adoption of policies or measures that affect Mexican exports, he warned.

Regarding bell peppers and strawberries from Mexico, on November 4, 2020, the United States Trade Representation (USTR) requested to initiate two investigations based on Section 332 and to establish a monitoring system for imports. bell pepper and strawberry.

Agricultural exports

On December 7, 2020, the USITC put into operation the referred import monitoring system that, according to US law, could be extended until December 7, 2022.

For CESITMEC, this monitoring opens the possibility for the United States industry to request the initiation of safeguard investigations and the imposition of provisional measures against these Mexican products.

Due to the foregoing, CESITMEC requested the Ministry of the Economy, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, to continue monitoring these investigations and the effects that the recently published reports on imports of Mexican agricultural products may cause, in order to implement the necessary actions to protect the commercial interests of Mexico.

The partners of the Agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (USMCA) agreed to maintain the market opening provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and add several other provisions not related to market access in the chapter on agriculture and sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS).

Among others, NAFTA’s agricultural provisions included the elimination of tariffs and quotas, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, rules of origin, and grade and quality standards.