Getting the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations with Canada and Mexico completed by January 2018 marks the "best window" for the discussions to conclude, according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.The focus on January comes as Ross acknowledged political matters figure to impact negotiations if they move well into 2018 – Mexican and US elections. "Their elections are mid-year. The closer you get to it the more complicated it would become, particularly in terms of getting Mexican congressional approval," Ross said at an event held at the Bipartisan Policy Center. Plus, the US fast-track negotiating authority needs to be reconfirmed in July 2018, as US mid-term elections loom in November. "Those will undoubtedly have some impact on congressional views," Ross said.The White House issued a denial on any NAFTA timeline. The denial came amid a report in the Mexican press that Ildefonso Guajardo, Mexico’s economy secretary, told a closed-door gathering of business officials that he and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer agreed on the Dec. 15 date during a bilateral meeting earlier this month. Guajardo was quoted as saying he and Lighthizer had "analyzed calendars" and chosen the mid-December deadline because it would give both countries' legislatures enough time to approve the updated deal before the Mexican presidential election in July 2018.USTR said no date has been set. "The sooner we can conclude negotiations, the sooner we can address the concerns of the president and the American people with NAFTA,” Emily Davis, a USTR spokeswoman, said.While tipping his hand little on the administration's focus on the NAFTA talks, Ross said, their first guiding principle will be to "do no harm" in the process. “There were some things that were achieved under NAFTA and under other trade agreements,” he remarked.A second rule for the talks would be to bring in concessions Canada and Mexico made as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, Ross observed. "We would view those as a starting point for discussion,” he said. Digital trade issues and gaining access in the services sectors would also be areas where the administration wants to see advances.In a similar vein, Ross indicated they want to bring into NAFTA some basic areas on trade matters that would be used in future pacts. The goal there is to have "basic principles we would like to have followed in subsequent trade agreements rather than starting each one with a blank sheet of paper."
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Friday, June 2, 2017
GMA Calls for Nutrition Facts, GMO Disclosure Deadlines to be Merged
The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) is urging the Trump administration to coordinate the compliance deadline for the Nutrition Facts labeling update and the GMO disclosure standards.The focus is on the Trump administration's push to cut back regulations, with GMA filing public comments that the Nutrition Facts deadline be belayed to May 2021, noting that the GMO disclosure standards being developed by USDA will not be finalized until July 2018 and implantation will take several years after that.Harmonizing the two schedules could save food companies considerable costs, GMA said. "These two required changes will impact virtually all food and beverage product labels on the market today," GMA wrote in its comment letter, adding, "Better coordination of the timing of these two label changes will also allow companies to execute them more efficiently, resulting in industry-wide savings of approximately $1.7 billion."Currently, food packaging must reflect the updated Nutrition Facts label as of July 26, 2018, though small manufacturers will have one more year to comply.Commerce's Ross Eyes NAFTA Talks Wrap-Up by January 2018
Getting the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations with Canada and Mexico completed by January 2018 marks the "best window" for the discussions to conclude, according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.The focus on January comes as Ross acknowledged political matters figure to impact negotiations if they move well into 2018 – Mexican and US elections. "Their elections are mid-year. The closer you get to it the more complicated it would become, particularly in terms of getting Mexican congressional approval," Ross said at an event held at the Bipartisan Policy Center. Plus, the US fast-track negotiating authority needs to be reconfirmed in July 2018, as US mid-term elections loom in November. "Those will undoubtedly have some impact on congressional views," Ross said.The White House issued a denial on any NAFTA timeline. The denial came amid a report in the Mexican press that Ildefonso Guajardo, Mexico’s economy secretary, told a closed-door gathering of business officials that he and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer agreed on the Dec. 15 date during a bilateral meeting earlier this month. Guajardo was quoted as saying he and Lighthizer had "analyzed calendars" and chosen the mid-December deadline because it would give both countries' legislatures enough time to approve the updated deal before the Mexican presidential election in July 2018.USTR said no date has been set. "The sooner we can conclude negotiations, the sooner we can address the concerns of the president and the American people with NAFTA,” Emily Davis, a USTR spokeswoman, said.While tipping his hand little on the administration's focus on the NAFTA talks, Ross said, their first guiding principle will be to "do no harm" in the process. “There were some things that were achieved under NAFTA and under other trade agreements,” he remarked.A second rule for the talks would be to bring in concessions Canada and Mexico made as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, Ross observed. "We would view those as a starting point for discussion,” he said. Digital trade issues and gaining access in the services sectors would also be areas where the administration wants to see advances.In a similar vein, Ross indicated they want to bring into NAFTA some basic areas on trade matters that would be used in future pacts. The goal there is to have "basic principles we would like to have followed in subsequent trade agreements rather than starting each one with a blank sheet of paper."
Getting the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations with Canada and Mexico completed by January 2018 marks the "best window" for the discussions to conclude, according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.The focus on January comes as Ross acknowledged political matters figure to impact negotiations if they move well into 2018 – Mexican and US elections. "Their elections are mid-year. The closer you get to it the more complicated it would become, particularly in terms of getting Mexican congressional approval," Ross said at an event held at the Bipartisan Policy Center. Plus, the US fast-track negotiating authority needs to be reconfirmed in July 2018, as US mid-term elections loom in November. "Those will undoubtedly have some impact on congressional views," Ross said.The White House issued a denial on any NAFTA timeline. The denial came amid a report in the Mexican press that Ildefonso Guajardo, Mexico’s economy secretary, told a closed-door gathering of business officials that he and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer agreed on the Dec. 15 date during a bilateral meeting earlier this month. Guajardo was quoted as saying he and Lighthizer had "analyzed calendars" and chosen the mid-December deadline because it would give both countries' legislatures enough time to approve the updated deal before the Mexican presidential election in July 2018.USTR said no date has been set. "The sooner we can conclude negotiations, the sooner we can address the concerns of the president and the American people with NAFTA,” Emily Davis, a USTR spokeswoman, said.While tipping his hand little on the administration's focus on the NAFTA talks, Ross said, their first guiding principle will be to "do no harm" in the process. “There were some things that were achieved under NAFTA and under other trade agreements,” he remarked.A second rule for the talks would be to bring in concessions Canada and Mexico made as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, Ross observed. "We would view those as a starting point for discussion,” he said. Digital trade issues and gaining access in the services sectors would also be areas where the administration wants to see advances.In a similar vein, Ross indicated they want to bring into NAFTA some basic areas on trade matters that would be used in future pacts. The goal there is to have "basic principles we would like to have followed in subsequent trade agreements rather than starting each one with a blank sheet of paper."