Canada Is Ready for Entry Into Force of USMCA; Mexico Says Not Yet

The Canadian government has sent its letter to the U.S. and Mexico certifying it is ready for the USMCA date of entry into force, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced April 3, but a top Mexican official said his country did not certify it was ready by March 31, which means a June 1 date of entry into force is out of reach.

“The Canadian government will continue to work with the United States and Mexican governments to determine an ‘entry into force’ date that is mutually beneficial. We want to ensure the new NAFTA will support a strong economic recovery once we have put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us -- which we will,” Freeland said.

On April 1, the head of Mexico's Senate tweeted that to ensure the correct implementation of T-MEC -- which is what Mexico calls the new NAFTA -- the federal legislature will ensure that “there are clear rules of origin for the automotive sector,” and that dispute settlement panelists are approved. Jesus Seade, the top negotiator for USMCA representing the new president, retweeted that comment and added that he wanted to clarify that it will be good for Mexico to enter T-MEC when the countries are ready, but that Mexico did not heed the push for June 1, and did not certify it was ready on March 31. He said July 1 is more favorable, because it would not be good to certify “before agreeing on those two key issues: uniform regulations and agreed panelists.” He also said Mexico will listen to the automotive industry before agreeing to uniform regulations.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not respond to a request for comment.