Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada (USMCA/CUSMA/T‑MEC) (goods and services)

Note on the Meeting of 1 november 2021

Ambassador H.E. Dr. Cleopa Kilonzo MAILU (Kenya)

1.1.  The 101^st Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter "CRTA" or the "Committee") was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/26 dated 20 September 2021.

1.2.  Under Agenda Item C.II of the Session, the CRTA considered the Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada (USMC/CUSMA/T-MEC), goods and services (hereinafter "the Agreement"). The Chairman stated that the Factual Presentation had been prepared by the Secretariat on its own responsibility in full consultation with the Parties, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the Transparency Mechanism for Regional Trade Agreements (document WT/L/671).

1.3.  The Chairman indicated that the Agreement had entered into force on 1 July 2020. It had been notified on 16 September 2020 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 and GATS Article V:7(a) (documents WT/REG407/N/1 and S/C/N/1017) as an agreement on trade in goods within the meaning of Article XXIV of the GATT 1994 and for trade in services within the meaning of Article V of the GATS, respectively. The text of the Agreement and its Annexes was available on Parties' official websites and in the WTO RTA database. The Factual Presentation on the goods and services aspects of the Agreement (document WT/REG407/1 dated 23 August 2021) and questions and replies on this Agreement (document WT/REG407/2 dated 26 October 2021) had been distributed.

1.4.  The representative of Canada, on behalf of all three Parties to the Agreement, thanked the participants for their presence, and for their questions and the interest shown in the new agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada, which the Parties had respectively named USMCA, T-MEC and CUSMA.

1.5.  He recalled that, on November 30, 2018, Canada, the United States, and Mexico had signed an agreement to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA/ALENA/TLCAN) with the Agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada (USMCA/CUSMA/T-MEC).

1.6.  Subsequently, on December 10, 2019, Canada, the United States and Mexico had agreed to update certain elements of the new Agreement to improve the final outcome and clear the path toward its ratification and implementation in all three countries.

1.7.  The Agreement that had come into force on July 1, 2020, reinforced the strong economic ties between the three countries.