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USMCA brings North American trade into the 21st century by creating the highest standard trade agreement across disciplines for all three parties

  • USMCA would raise U.S. real GDP by over $68 billion and create nearly 176,000 jobs. (USITC report)
  • USMCA would increase total annual U.S. agricultural and food exports by $2.2 billion. (USITC Report)
  • USMCA would increase U.S. dairy exports to Canada by $227 million and Mexico by $50.6 million. (USITC Report)
  • USMCA would be the first U.S. free trade agreement with a digital trade chapter, fostering U.S. growth in the digital economy for firms of all sectors and sizes. (USMCA Coalition)

 Market Access:

  • Preserves and enhances U.S. duty-free access to Mexican and Canadian markets.
  • Requires greater transparency in licensing for imports and exports.
  • Improves regulatory compatibility and practices for trade in information and communication technology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cosmetic products, and chemical substances.
  • Minimizes redundant and unnecessary testing of exported products.
  • Establishes information-sharing tools and mechanisms aimed at enabling small and medium enterprises to take advantage of USMCA.
  • Eliminates local presence requirements for cross-border service providers.

 Agriculture:

  • Increases market access for U.S. farmers with new export opportunities for U.S. dairy, poultry and egg producers.
  • Eliminates Canada’s Class 6 and 7 dairy programs that hindered U.S. exports to third-country markets.
  • Provides for cooperation and information exchange on agricultural biotechnology trade matters, including gene editing.
  • Prevents trade barriers disguised as food safety and animal or plant health measures by requiring such measures to be based on sound science.
  • Addresses longstanding non-tariff barriers to the ability of U.S. producers to export wheat and wine to Canada.
  • Creates safeguards to protect against issuance of geographic indications that would prevent United States producers from using common names to describe food products.
  • Ensures that the fees for any import checks of agricultural goods are no higher than the actual cost of service and that the import check is conducted efficiently.
  • Improves the transparency and functioning of approval processes for agricultural biotechnology.

 Intellectual Property:

  • Secures strong protections and enforcement of intellectual property rights to help drive innovation and create economic growth.
  • Requires ex officio authority for customs officials to stop suspected counterfeit goods.
  • Requires a minimum copyright term of the life of the author plus 70 years, or publication plus 75 years.
  • Provides 10 years of data protection for agricultural chemicals.
  • Continues to provide strong patent protection for innovators by enshrining patentability standards and patent office best practices.
  • Requires strong standards against circumvention of technological protection measures for digital content.
  • Provides for copyright safe harbors that are consistent with current U.S. law.
  • Provides for criminal procedures against the unauthorized copying or transmitting of movies playing in theaters.
  • Improved protections for trade secrets, including civil and criminal protections, guarantees on the ability to license trade secrets, and protection from unauthorized disclosure by courts and government officials.

 Digital Trade:

  • USMCA will be the first U.S. free trade agreement with a digital trade chapter, creating a strong foundation for the expansion of trade and investment in innovative digital products and services.
  • Prohibits the imposition of tariffs on digital products transmitted electronically.
  • Minimizes restrictions on where businesses may store and process data and on their ability to transfer data across borders.
  • Limits the circumstances when governments may compel disclosure of source code and proprietary algorithms.
  • Ensures that businesses may use electronic authentication and signatures to conduct digital trade.
  • Ensures that consumer protections apply to digital trade.
  • Promotes open access to government-generated public data.
  • Limits the civil liability of internet service providers for third-party content that they host or process.

 Customs & Trade Facilitation:

  • Raises the “de minimis” customs thresholds under which U.S. businesses may export to Canada and Mexico with reduced paperwork and without paying taxes or duties.
  • Requires making customs regulations available online.
  • Eliminates the standard Certificate of Origin form, allowing parties to make a preference claim with the minimum data elements.
  • Allows importers to complete a certificate of origin, instead of relying on the exporter.
  • Strengthens verification authority for enforcement purposes.

 Auto Rules of Origin:

  • New rules will increase U.S. jobs in the automotive sector by incentivizing production in the United States and North America.
  • By encouraging companies to use more U.S. content and high wage labor, USMCA will help ensure that U.S producers and workers are able to compete on a level playing field.

 Financial Services:

  • Expands market access for U.S. business to export electronic payments services, investment advice, and portfolio management.
  • Limits the circumstances when a financial regulator may require local storage of data.
  • Requires transparency in government licensing and market access authorizations.

 State-Owned Enterprises:

  • Imposes market disciplines and prohibits discriminatory privileges and certain subsidies.

 Textiles:

  • Strengthens incentives to use North American fibers, yarns, and fabrics in textile products.

 Labor & Environment:

  • Provides the strongest labor and environment obligations in any U.S. trade agreement and makes them fully subject to the enforcement and dispute settlement under Chapter 31.

 Currency:

  • Requires transparency on currency policies and addresses unfair currency practices.

 Good Governance:

  • Encourages regulations to be written in plain language so that the public can better understand their meaning.
  • Requires most regulations to go through a notice and comment procedure so the public can see and provide input on proposed regulations.
  • Requires criminal penalties for bribery and corruption, including with respect to interactions with foreign government officials.

 Dispute Settlement:

  • Improves enforcement of our trading rights by preventing the defending party from blocking the formation of a dispute settlement panel to decide a case.

 Trade with Canada and Mexico

  • North American trade supports 12 million American jobs. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)
  • Trade with Canada and Mexico has more than quadrupled in the last 25 years, reaching nearly $1.4 trillion in 2018, or $3.8 billion per day. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)
  • Canada and Mexico buy more American goods than our next 11 trading partners combined ($500 billion versus $460 billion). Combined, the Canadian and Mexican economies represent a half-trillion dollar market for U.S. exports (the $500 billion figure = half trillion). (NAM)
  • 49 U.S. states list Canada or Mexico as one of their top three export markets. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)
  • Canada and Mexico buy one-third of U.S. merchandise exports. (USMCA Coalition)
  • Of 42 manufacturing sectors, 38 have Canada or Mexico as their first or second top export market. (USMCA Coalition)
  • From 1993 to 2017, U.S. agricultural exports to Canada and Mexico more than quadrupled, from $8.9 billion to $39 billion. (USMCA Coalition, citing American Farm Bureau)
  • More than 120,000 American small- and medium-sized businesses export goods and services to Canada and Mexico. (USMCA Coalition)
  • From 1993 to 2017, U.S. services exports to Canada and Mexico tripled from $27 billion to $91 billion. (USMCA Coalition)

Author: Press Release

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