The leaders of the Senate Finance Committee are calling on the Biden Administration to use the trade enforcement tools created by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to ensure Canada and Mexico live up to their commitments.
“The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement has the potential to deliver tangible benefits for America’s workers, farmers, and businesses by improving and strengthening the relationship between the United States and its two closest trading partners. However, that potential will not be realized without full implementation and enforcement of the Agreement as written,” U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and Mike Crapo (R-ID), wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
While praising efforts to combat forced labor in Mexico and Canada’s unfair obstacles to American dairy imports, the committee leaders urged USTR to address other areas where the nations fail to meet their commitments under USMCA. This includes areas like labor reforms, agriculture issues ranging from dairy and potato exports to biotechnology, marine life protection, trade in services, and the energy and telecommunications sectors.
“The Agreement promised to improve upon our existing trading relationship with Canada and Mexico, including through innovative provisions to swiftly address labor violations, promote agricultural market access through science-based decision-making, advance intellectual property rights protection, and improve the regulation of state-owned enterprises. Unless Canada and Mexico are held to their commitments under USMCA, however, U.S. workers, businesses, and farmers will be denied the full benefits they were promised. Therefore, it is of critical importance that USTR continue to diligently monitor Canada and Mexico’s compliance with the Agreement and ensure that every chapter of the Agreement is fully enforced,” Wyden and Crapo wrote.