Logo Acedo Santamarina

New treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada.

On October 1 of this year, an agreement was announced between the governments of Mexico, Canada and the United States of America to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”). The name of this new agreement will be AEUMC, or “USMCA”, which comes from the English acronym of each of the countries that are part of this treaty.

The draft agreement now under discussion in the congresses of each of the countries includes 34 chapters, which are listed below:

  1. Initial Provisions and General Definitions
  2. National Treatment and Market Access for Goods
  3. Agriculture
  4. Rules of Origin, with Product Specific Rules
  5. Origin Procedures
  6. Textiles and Apparel
  7. Customs Administration and Trade Facilitation
  8. Recognition of the direct, inalienable and imprescriptible ownership of hydrocarbons by the Mexican State.
  9. Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
  10. Commercial Remedies
  11. Technical Barriers to Trade
  12. Sector Annexes
  13. Public Sector Procurement
  14. Investment
  15. Cross-Border Trade in Services
  16. Temporary Entry
  17. Financial Services
  18. Telecommunications
  19. Digital Commerce
  20. Intellectual Property
  21. Competition Policy
  22. State-Owned Enterprises
  23. Laboral
  24. Environment
  25. Small and Medium Enterprises
  26. Competitiveness
  27. Anticorruption
  28. Good Regulatory Practices
  29. Publication and Administration
  30. Administrative and Institutional Provisions
  31. Dispute Resolution
  32. Exceptions and General Provisions
  33. Macroeconomic Policies and Exchange Rate Issues
  34. Final Provisions.

As next steps, each of the countries must send the draft agreement for review and approval by their respective congresses, with the goal of signing the agreement no later than the last day of November 2018. In the case of Mexico, the agreement must be ratified by the Senate, for which reason the Executive sent the bill to the corresponding Senate committees for their analysis.

In the case of Mexico, the agreement must be ratified by the Senate, for which reason the Executive sent the bill to the corresponding Senate committees for their analysis.

Mexico is the country with the most free trade agreements in the world and this allows access to millions of consumers; however, NAFTA has been the most important so far in terms of business volume. NAFTA was originally signed in 1992 and entered into force in all three countries in 1994.

This agreement has allowed Mexico to complement its economy with the productive processes of Canada and the United States and has facilitated the exchange of goods and services, which has led to the attraction of productive investments.

According to data from the American Chamber of Commerce, Mexico exchanges close to $2,600,000,000 million dollars worth of goods with the United States every day. For this reason, it was very important for Mexico’s economy to continue to be part of this treaty with the northern countries.

The signing of this new agreement ensures the permanence and increase of foreign investment in Mexico. However, it presents new challenges for the country, as the agreement imposes certain commitments on Mexico to continue legislating in order to promote certain sectors. We will be reporting on the progress of the review of this new agreement and the impact it will have on each sector.

Acedo Santamarina

Leave a comment

Subscribe to our newsletter"

Stay up-to-date on the most outstanding topics in legal matters.

® Acedo Santamarina 2023, all rights reserved