Many importers are aware that the United States, Canada, and Mexico have negotiated a replacement treaty for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The new agreement is called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and was announced by President Trump on October 1, 2018.
In August of 2018, I published an article entitled “301 Tariff Hearings and the Value of Testifying” [see link to previously published article on BLG Newsletter]. This article was based upon my experiences as Of Counsel to Braumiller Law Group, PLLC (“Braumiller”) in working closely with their attorneys to organize, format, draft, and testify…
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has taken the initiative to modernize its current trade environment. The purpose of the initiative is to realign CBP’s current trade policies and procedures with the development of new industries, technology, and modes of conducting business.
A few weeks ago, Walmart’s top brass in Bentonville Arkansas kindly asked the Trump administration to scale back on its plan to put tariffs on Christmas lights, shampoo, dog food, luggage, mattresses, handbags, backpacks, vacuum cleaners, bicycles, cooking grills, cable cords and air conditioners.
NAFTA is out. USMCA is in. Just before the September 30 deadline to submit the full text of the new US-MX trade pact to Congress, Canada was able to agree to updated terms and sign on to the deal, narrowly preserving the tri-lateral trade agreement that will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Many new technologies have erupted in the last 24 years, so sure, NAFTA was due for an update. Ecommerce has certainly also sparked the need for a facelift. But modernized provisions for certification of origin (which is how countries determine which shipments qualify for duty-free status) may lead to…
In November of 2006, the Mexican government abolished the Maquiladora and PITEX Programs and created the IMMEX Program. IMMEX stands for Industrial Manufacturera Maquiladora y de Servicios de Exportacion (literarily translated into English as Manufacturing Maquiladora and Export Services Industry).
If you go to the Trade tab at CBP.gov one of the featured items on the menu is Priority Trade Issues. There you will find information on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). This primarily deals with CBP enforcement of trademarks and copyrights.
