Current Retaliatory Actions

MEXICO TRUCKING RETALIATION

Under the NAFTA, the United States and Mexico agreed to phase-out restrictions on cross-border passenger and cargo services. In 1995, however, the United States announced it would not lift restrictions on Mexican trucks. In 2001, a NAFTA dispute settlement panel found the U.S. restrictions to be in breach of its NAFTA obligations. In 2007 Mexico agreed to cooperate in a joint demonstration program, as a step towards full NAFTA implementation. This joint demonstration program allowed up to 100 trucking firms from Mexico to transport international cargo beyond the commercial zones along the U.S.-Mexico border, and up to 100 U.S. trucking firms to transport international cargo into Mexico. However, bus companies and hazardous material carriers were excluded from coverage under the program.

The Trucking Pilot Program began on September 6, 2007, and was originally designed to run for one year. By an exchange of letters between the U.S. and Mexican Transportation Secretaries on August 4, 2008, the Trucking Pilot Program was extended up to an additional two years to ensure that it could produce sufficient data to evaluate its safety impact. However, the recently passed omnibus spending bill ended funding for the program. President Obama signed the bill into law on March 11. On Monday, March 16, Mexico announced it would retaliate against the United States for the cancellation of the Cross-Border Trucking Demonstration Program. The list of 89 products was published on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 and effective the next day.

Mexico Retaliation List Summary

BYRD AMENDMENT

On October 28, 2000, the United States Congress passed the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (a.k.a. the Byrd Amendment), which amends Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930. The Byrd Amendment redistributes on an annual basis anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties or any other finding under the Antidumping Act of 1921 to affected producers who were petitioners in the original antidumping /countervailing duties cases. Eleven WTO members (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the European Community (EC), India, Indonesia, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand) challenged the U.S. implementation of the Byrd Amendment in the WTO. The WTO Dispute Settlement Body panel (and the Appellate body) found the Byrd Amendment incompliant in January of 2003 and requested that the United States bring its law into compliance by the end of the year (December 27, 2003).

The United States did not repeal the amendment by the WTO deadline. Brazil, Canada, Chile, the EU, India, Japan, Mexico and South Korea requested and were granted authorization from the WTO to suspend tariff concessions and other obligations against the United States. Canada and the EU began retaliating against U.S. exports on May 1, 2005, imposing an additional 15 percent duty on U.S. products. There were 18 products on the EU list and eight products on the Canadian list. Mexico joined Canada and the EU on August 18, 2005, levying additional duties that ranged from 9 to 30 percent on 10 products from the United States. On September 1, 2005, Japan began to retaliate with additional 15 percent duties on 15 products.

In February 2006, the United States repealed the Byrd Amendment effective October 1, 2007. Canada and Mexico ceased retaliatory tariffs against the United States in 2006. While duties are no longer collected under the Byrd Amendment, distributions of previously-collected duties continue. The EU and Japan continue to apply retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports listed on product lists published annually. In 2006, the EU expanded its retaliation list from 18 products to 26 products, applying a retaliatory tariff of 15 percent. In 2007, the EU further increased its list of targeted products from 26 to 58 products. In 2008, the EU reduced its product list from 58 to 28 products, and Japan reduced its retaliation by lowering its retaliatory tariff to 10.6 percent and applying it to only two products.

Recently Closed Cases

Nothing to report at this time.