Comments on USMCA

On Tuesday, November 12, NAEGA and the National Grain and Feed Association submitted a joint statement to the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) regarding a request for public comments on matters relevant to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). In the statement, NAEGA and NGFA state that USMCA will help facilitate cross-border trade flows through higher levels of regulatory coherence and cooperation, the implementation of timelines and notifications for adverse import checks, the inclusion of steps to reduce the likelihood of trade disruptions in products of agricultural biotechnology, the use of technical consultations for SPS disputes, and by requiring that SPS standards be grounded in science and based on proper risk assessments and implemented using accepted risk management techniques. Furthermore, while it is disappointing the agreement eliminates the investor-state dispute-settlement procedures, which has been important for U.S. food and agriculture, the agreement, taken together, makes significant progress – particularly in addressing non-tariff trade barriers – in facilitating the trade of grains, oilseeds and their derived products within the North American marketplace.