All agricultural tariffs on trade between
the United States and Mexico will be eliminated by the
NAFTA. Many tariffs were eliminated immediately, with the
others being phased out over 5, 10, or 15 years. Any item
subject to a 5-year phaseout period became duty-free on
January 1, 1998. The U.S. and Mexican tariffs on beer
will be phased out over 8 years, and the Mexican tariff
on wine coolers are being phased out over 6 years. After
15 years, there will be no tariffs on products traded
between the United States and Mexico.
Both the United States and Mexico had more
than one-half of recent trade value exempt from tariffs
when the agreement took effect. There is a relative
balance in the value of trade in the various tariff
phaseout categories.
The United States has a limited number of
products in the 15-year tariff phaseout category.
Products the United States included in this category are
orange juice, sugar, peanuts, certain fresh vegetables,
and melons.
In general, with the exception of the
dairy, poultry, egg, and sugar sectors, Mexico's tariff
elimination schedule for Canada is the same as that for
the United States.
Under NAFTA, tariff elimination schedules
in the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement remained in place
for U.S.-Canadian agricultural trade. As a result, all
tariffs on agricultural products were eliminated on
January 1, 1998, with limited exceptions for U.S. imports
of dairy products, peanuts, peanut butter, sugar,
sugar-containing products, and cotton. Canadian
over-quota tariffs remain in place for dairy, poultry,
eggs, and margarine.
