US Industries: Mexico violates the USMCA with customs barriers

Redacción Opportimes 25 marzo, 2021

Business associations of the United States asked the government of their country to initiate consultations on customs barriers in Mexico that violate the provisions of the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (USMCA).

According to these associations, the Government of Mexico has not fully complied with the letter or spirit of its USMCA customs obligations and is instead moving to erect new customs barriers that harm the ability of small US businesses to benefit. of the agreement.

Mexico has yet to fully implement the key commitments of the USMCA such as:

Reduce customs formalities and simplify processing for shipments valued up to US $ 2,500 (Articles 7.1.2, 7.7, 7.8 and 7.8.2).
Allow periodic evaluation and payment of fees (Article 7.8.1).
Allow the ability to self-declare without a broker and eliminate the “local” broker rule (Article 7.20) by modifying or providing guidance on Foreign Trade Rules (Section 1.4 – Customs Agents and Attorneys).
Publish or otherwise communicate the customs regulations that it is proposed to adopt, violating the spirit of Article 7.3, as well as the USMCA chapter on good regulatory practices.

Customs

The associations also said that they are concerned about Mexico’s increase (in June 2020) to 17-19% of its «Global Rate», a combination of tariff and charge on all shipments that enter with simplified dispatch methods (de minimis and informal entry), including shipments from the United States and Canada.

Today, the duty and charge apply to shipments below the de minimis thresholds, set in the USMCA at US $ 117 for customs duties and US $ 50 for taxes.

Given that Global Tax includes a customs duty component, the new import charges valued at between $ 50 and $ 117 appear to violate the agreement.

Therefore, the associations urge the USTR to request that Mexico reverse this increase.

The operation of customs procedures is based on a computerized customs management system (SAAI). This system allows the electronic exchange of information between the AGA, the 49 customs ports of Mexico, agents, warehouses and banking institutions authorized to collect duties related to foreign trade.