Last week, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) held three days of public hearings about the upcoming renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
As King & Spalding previously reported, the Trump Administration issued the required 90-day notice of renegotiation on May 18. The following week, USTR published a request in the Federal Register for comments about modernizing NAFTA and noticed the upcoming public hearing. Thousands of comments were submitted by a broad array of industry groups including farm bureaus and growers associations, manufacturing associations, and services providers. Labor representatives, civil society organizations, politicians, cities and regions, and private individuals also submitted comments.
USTR selected a three-day schedule of speakers to testify at the “NAFTA Modernization Hearing Panels” held on June 27th through 29th. Approximately 140 witnesses composing themed panels provided five minute prepared statements and responded to questions from agency representatives.
Two Congressional members testified: House Ways & Means trade subcommittee ranking member Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and the former Ways & Means chairman and ranking member Sander Levin (D-MI). Pascrell expressed concern “that for NAFTA, USTR is at this stage still asking for help in explaining why it is undertaking these negotiations in the first place…We in Congress—and the American public and the companies and stakeholders that make up the American economy—are completely in the dark when it comes to what the Administration intends to do, why, and for whose benefit.”
Speakers in the 27 panels testified on a host of subjects, from specific policies to broad approaches facing a renegotiated NAFTA. Topics include whether a renegotiated NAFTA should include mandatory country of origin labeling for beef and pork. Other areas of discussion included whether the renegotiated NAFTA should maintain flexibility in textiles content rules and allow products to receive NAFTA benefits even if the textile products were composed of less than the minimum level of North American content. Content requirements also were discussed in connection with the automotive industry. Finally, labor representatives argued against using the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a template for a renegotiated NAFTA.
Negotiations with Canada and Mexico regarding NAFTA modifications may begin as early as August 16.
