March 24 - The Secretariat of Economy (SE) has published in the Diario Oficial (Federal Register) an announcement modifying the import tariffs of 90 U.S. agricultural and industrial products. The list includes 36 agricultural products worth an estimated trade value of $864 million.
This announcement is retaliation from the Government of Mexico (GOM) over the dissolution of the U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border Trucking Demonstration Project.
Below is a list of these agricultural products, including the new import tariffs as well the value of these imports (based on Mexico’s official data) from 2008 is as follows:
|
Table 1. Mexico: Trucking Retaliation List
Imports From The United States
U.S. Dollars |
|
|
|
HS Code |
Description |
2008 |
New Tariff |
|
0604.91.02 |
Christmas Trees |
17,382,112 |
20% |
|
0703.10.01 |
Onions |
36,696,133 |
10% |
|
0705.11.01 |
Cabbage Lettuce |
21,850,669 |
10% |
|
0802.12.01 |
Almonds, shelled |
26,305,864 |
20% |
|
0804.10.01 |
Fresh Dates |
313,069 |
20% |
|
0804.10.99 |
Dates, Other |
208,941 |
20% |
|
0806.10.01 |
Grapes, fresh if… |
62,136,444 |
45% |
|
0808.20.01 |
Pears |
70,685,943 |
20% |
|
0809.10.01 |
Apricots, fresh |
3,641,643 |
20% |
|
0809.20.01 |
Cherries, fresh |
3,740,854 |
20% |
|
0810.10.01 |
Strawberries, fresh |
29,964,695 |
20% |
|
0813.50.01 |
Mixtures of Nuts or Dried Fruits of this chapter |
5,885,526 |
20% |
|
1902.19.99 |
Pasta, Uncooked, Not Stuffed Etc., Nesoi, Other |
1,980,313 |
10% |
|
2004.10.01 |
Potatoes, prepared etc., no vinegar etc. frozen |
78,006,278 |
20% |
|
2005.40.01 |
Peas, prepr or presvd, other than by vinegar, acetic acid or sugar, not frozen |
369,213 |
20% |
|
2008.11.01 |
Peanuts, prepared or preserved, shelled (peanut butter) |
4,895,320 |
20% |
|
2008.11.99 |
Peanuts, prepared or preserved, other |
1,616,201 |
20% |
|
2008.19.01 |
Prepared nuts, almonds |
2,457,814 |
20% |
|
2008.19.99 |
Other prepared nuts |
58,345,561 |
20% |
|
2008.60.01 |
Cherries, prepared or preserved |
5,809,262 |
20% |
|
2009.80.01 |
Juice of single veg/fruit, unfermented, only vegetable juices, not containing added alcohol |
7,444,741 |
20% |
|
2009.90.01 |
Juice, mixture, unfermented, only veg |
184,032 |
20% |
|
2009.90.99 |
Juice, mixture, unfermented, fruit and veg |
18,389,858 |
20% |
|
2103.10.01 |
Soy sauce |
5,397,413 |
20% |
|
2103.90.99 |
Condiments and seasonings, mixed only |
101,995,617 |
20% |
|
2104.10.01 |
Soups and broths |
178,029,129 |
10% |
|
2106.90.06 |
Juice concentrate from single fruit, legumes, or vegetable |
193,786 |
15% |
|
2106.90.07 |
Mixed juice concentrates from fruit, legumes, or vegetable |
1,770,986 |
15% |
|
2106.90.08 |
Juice concentrate containing milk solids exceeding 10% by weight |
14,618,189 |
15% |
|
2201.10.01 |
Mineral water |
3,410,944 |
20% |
|
2204.10.99 |
Sparkling wine of fresh grapes, other |
1,308,834 |
20% |
|
2204.21.02 |
Wine, red, pink, claret, or white |
6,232,017 |
20% |
|
2206.00.99 |
Other fermented beverages |
12,064,901 |
20% |
|
2306.30.01 |
Oilcake from sunflower seeds |
777,627 |
15% |
|
2306.49.99 |
Rape/Colza seed oilcake, solid residue, other |
185,689 |
15% |
|
2309.10.01 |
Pet food, dog or cat |
79,315,836 |
10% |
|
|
TOTAL |
$863,611,454 |
|
Source: SAGARPA/SIAP, Secretariat of Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food.
Agro-Food and Fisheries Information Service
Furthermore, this announcement establishes the legal statements for increasing the import tariffs on U.S. products. Among these statements are the following:
• That the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was approved by the Mexican Senate on November 22, 1993, according to the decree published in the Diario Oficial on December 8, 2003. This decree of promulgation was published on December 20, 2003, in Mexico’s Federal register and came into force on January 1, 1994;
• That NAFTA sections 1108 and 1206 and Annex I, “Reservations About Existing Measures and Liberalization Commitments” provides the opening of freight services in the border states between Mexico and the United States since December 18, 1995, and throughout the two countries since January 1, 2000;
• That in accordance with NAFTA Chapter XX, which establishes procedures for resolving disputes. On February 2, 2000, a panel was requested by Mexico to determine the failure of the United States and its negligence of Annex I referred to the previous, as well as national treatment and the treatment of most favored nation under articles 1102, 1103, 1202 and 1203 of the Agreement on Cross-Border Transport Services;
• On February 6, 2001, the arbitration panel issued its final report and found that the United States failed to fulfill its obligations outlined in the previous paragraph, and the panel recommended that the United States conduct the actions necessary to comply with its NAFTA commitments;
• That from the date indicated in the above considerations, the GOM and the United States made several efforts to ensure the opening of cross-border transport services under NAFTA, without obtaining the desired results;
• As part of the efforts mentioned above, on April 27, 2007, the GOM and the United States agreed to implement a program approved access to trucking (Demonstration Program) with a term of one year, extended by agreement of both countries until 2010, which would allow a limited number of companies from both countries to provide cross-border transport services;
• That during the approval of the Omnibus Appropriations Act for FY 2009, the U.S. Congress banned Department of Transportation (DOT) funds that were used to establish or maintain the Demonstration Program. As a result, the DOT has ceased to operate this Program;
• That the cancellation of the Demonstration Program is evidence that the United States and Mexico have failed to reach a mutually satisfactory settlement of trans-boundary movements in accordance with NAFTA articles 2018 and 2019, and that the United States continues to not honor its international obligations under NAFTA and the recommendations of the arbitration panel referred to above;
• That paragraph 1 of NAFTA Article 2019 provides for the possibility that if a panel has determined that a measure is inconsistent with the obligations of this Agreement, if the Party complained against has not reached agreement with any complaining Party on a mutually satisfactory resolution, such complaining Party may suspend the application to the Party complained against of benefits of equivalent effect until such time as they have reached agreement on a resolution of the dispute;
• That under the above, it is appropriate to suspend benefits of equivalent effect to the United States, it is considered desirable to eliminate the preferential tariffs that the Agreement of merit to imports of certain goods originating from the United States;
• That for the purposes of the preceding paragraph, it is necessary to amend the Decree on establishing the applicable rate during 2003 of the General Import Tax for goods originating in North America, published in the Diario Oficial on December 31, 2002, and that was modified by different announcements published in the same Mexican Federal Register on August 17, 2005, and September 29, 2006, and May 8 and June 30, 2007, and;
• That pursuant to the Foreign Trade Law, this Decree has a favorable opinion of the Foreign Trade Commission.
Title: Decree amending Article 1 that establishes the Applicable Rate during 2003 of the General Import Tax, for goods originating in North America, with respect to goods originating from the United States of America, published on December 31, 2002.
Effective Date: March 19, 2009
Background:
The Trucking Pilot Program (Mexico Cross-Border Trucking Demonstration Project) was an accommodation reached with Mexico after years of dispute regarding the delay to implement the NAFTA trucking obligations. It was set up in 2007 as a step towards implementation of the NAFTA trucking provision.
It 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. Bus companies and hazardous material carriers were excluded.
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. In 2007, Mexico-domiciled motor carriers crossed into the U.S. approximately 4.8 million times, transporting an estimated $215 billion of freight.