USMCA to Enter into Force on 1 July

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is slated to enter into force on 1 July after all three partner countries reported that they have taken the domestic measures necessary to implement and comply with their commitments.

The Trump administration announced the effective date despite a call by the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee at its quarterly meeting on 15 April to delay the entry into force of USMCA until no earlier than 1 January 2021. “Now is not the time to implement a trade agreement that contains so many important and meaningful changes that will impact certain industries in a significant financial manner,” COAC said. If the agreement does take effect on 1 June, COAC said that “at the very least, CBP and its USMCA partners should grant enforcement discretion by way of an informed compliance period until the trade has had reasonable time to implement each administration’s regulatory and automation requirements.”

Similarly, a number of members of the Senate Finance Committee told U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in a 30 March letter that the USMCA should not enter into force until “all necessary regulations are in place and our industries have had an opportunity to understand and implement them effectively.” Among other things, the senators noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a public health crisis and supply chain disruptions that have left businesses and governments “little, if any, time and resources to prepare for a smooth transition to USMCA.”