The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA or USMCA) will introduce new and complex requirements for the automotive industry.  Not only will vehicle producers face increased Regional Value Content requirements starting July 1, 2020, but they will be required to meet the following requirements:

  1. minimum purchase requirements for North American steel and aluminum;
  2. labour value content requirements

The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), also referred to as the United States-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA), comes into effect on July 1, 2020.  Are you ready?

The full CUSMA Agreement was signed in November of 2018, and later amended in December 2019.  In April of this year each of the three parties notified that they had completed

Many Canadian import businesses have implemented remote working arrangements for employees as a result of COVID-19 government directives.  Social distancing in business organizations can give rise to costly mistakes because business is not as usual.  Importers have to adjust to the new normal and identify new (and existing) business risks.  Most employees and managers are

Today (September 11, 2019), President Trump announced a short reprieve for goods on Lists 1, 2 and 3. The 301 tariff on those Chinese goods will still rise from 25% to 30%, but now instead of that happening on October 1, 2019, the effective date will be October 15, 2019. The stated reason for the

On July 27, 2019, Global Affairs Canada started a consultation on whether South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom should join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (“CPTPP”). An announcement was published in the Canada Gazette, Part 1. Global Affairs Canada has also indicated in a backgrounder that they “welcome views on

There have been a few developments in the NAFTA 2.0/USMCA/CUSMA process in the past few weeks.

1. The Government of Mexico published in the July 29, 2019 issue of the Official Gazette a decree that was signed by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to complete the final step in the ratification process in Mexico. 

On July 23, 3019, the Parliament of France approved the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (the “Canada-EU CETA”).  Even though the French Senate must also approve ratification of the Canada-EU CETA, we are going to mark this as a ratification.  So far half of the countries have completed sets to ratify the Canada-EU

Putting all the hyperbole and posturing to one side, the recent agreement between Mexico and the U.S. which averted the tariffs can be found in the U.S.- Mexico Joint Statement released June 7, 2019. It consists of a few broad policy statements:

  • Mexico will deploy its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern

Agriculture Secretary Perdue recently stated the trade damages to be addressed in a new round of farm aid is $15 to $20 billion! The general press is replete with stories about how, as these tariffs continue, companies are making sourcing changes that will be hard to reverse. So, what is the latest news?

First, there

In the last week, both the Dept. of Homeland Security and the Food and Drug Administration have issued a consumer alert about the potential hacking risk regarding cardiac devices, specifically because those devices have no encryption on their software. The devices in question are implantable cardiac devices, clinic programmers and home monitors which are used