Currently we are in 90 day Congressional consultation session that the Trump Administration initiated on May 18. The Administration is required to give Congress a 90 day notice before initiating negotiations with any country on a trade agreement. On May 23, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a notice in the Federal Register soliciting comments from the public that will help shape the direction of the modernization process. The comment period is not closed. USTR held public hearings this past week. Members of the North American Market Working Group (of which WineAmerica is an active member) testified at the hearings in support of keeping the Canadian and Mexican markets open and modernizing rules and regulation.

 

USTR is required to publish a detailed summary of its negotiating objectives and expected outcomes on the USTR website at least 30 days prior to initiating negotiations. USTR expects to publish these objectives by Monday, July 17. The 90-day period ends on Wednesday, August 16, 2017. That is the earliest negotiations with Canada and Mexico can begin. The Trump Administration expect the negotiations to be tri-lateral in nature, but they may become bilateral as they progress.

 

WineAmerica Actions

WineAmerica and the Wine Institute submitted comments to USTR (full text here). We then held a meeting with USTR and USDA to follow up and reinforce those comments. The American wine industry would like to see the following from a NAFTA modernization effort:

·         Ensure that U.S. wines have equal access to Canadian grocery and other new distribution channels;

·         Prohibit markup exemptions and other substantial preferential benefits exclusively provided for Canada wine;

·         Remove the NAFTA prohibition on duty drawback;

·         Remove the 1987 NAFTA provision allowing Ontario and B.C. private wine outlets in existence in 1987 to sell only wines from that province; and

 

·         Remove the NAFTA provision allowing Québec to require that wine sold in grocery stores must be from Québec.