Chambers of commerce in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. collectively are asking each country's leaders to hold each other accountable to fully implement USMCA. In a joint letter Nov. 16, they said, "The Canadian and Mexican private sectors share apprehension over differing interpretations of USMCA’s rules of origin and how the U.S. interpretation of these provisions poses risks to our integrated supply chains." They also said that the Canadian and U.S. private sectors are deeply concerned about Mexico's actions restricting investment in its energy sector. "Attempts to favor state-owned enterprises at the expense of renewable and other private energy providers only undermine investment certainty, put at risk ambitious shared goals to address climate change, and promise both added cost and diminished opportunity for our countries’ workers," they wrote, and said they hope government will engage the private sector in meaningful dialogue in both arenas. They also said in future emergencies like the pandemic, "there should also be greater cooperation on border management to ensure the flow of commercial traffic and cargo."

Farmers who produce several sorts of commodities continue to regret the U.S. retreat from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and want the administration to prioritize opening markets for their goods in Southeast Asia, according to a Farmers for Free Trade panel held virtually.

Retail imports remain high, but there’s no telling how much the congestion at U.S. ports is denting the volume of incoming goods, the National Retail Federation reported Oct. 7. “The cargo is there for larger gains at several ports but congestion issues are impacting fluid operations,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president-supply chain and customs policy. “Ships will eventually get unloaded but the pressure is on for everyone to work together to get the containers out as quickly as possible.” U.S. ports handled 2.27 million 20-foot cargo containers or their equivalents in August, NRF said. That was up 3.5% from July and 7.8% higher than a year earlier and tied March as the second-busiest month since NRF began tracking imports in 2002. The congestion and disruption come in the middle of the peak season for shipping “when retailers stock up on holiday merchandise each year, but many retailers began bringing in holiday goods this summer to be sure sufficient inventory will be available.”

Costco has chartered three “ocean vessels” for the next year to transport containers between Asia and North America, “and we've leased several thousand containers for use on these ships,” Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said on a call Sept. 23 to discuss the results of fiscal Q4 ended Aug. 29. “Every ship can carry 800 to 1,000 containers at a time and we'll make approximately 10 deliveries during the course of the next year.” Costco's electronics sales in the quarter were "very good," but up against a tough comparison with a year earlier when "we had really outsized sales" amid COBID-19 stay-at-home orders, Galanti said.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said, in a readout of a video call she had with the Business Council for International Understanding, that receiving input from workers and underserved communities in addition to business interests "will lead to more durable trade policy that helps businesses compete fairly abroad and identify new market opportunities." She talked about Trade and Investment Framework Agreements as a mechanism for identifying those opportunities, and also highlighted the tariffs that were lifted as a result of the U.S.-European Union-United Kingdom settlement of the Boeing-Airbus case.

The United Kingdom's Department for International Trade tapped McDermott Will, along with its consortium partners TLT and Borden Ladner, to advise on three post-Brexit trade agreements, the U.K.-based law firm said. The three agreements include the U.K.'s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and two bilateral free trade agreements with Canada and Mexico. The CPTPP is an 11-party trade pact that includes Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. “Trade negotiations of this size are significant, given the potential impact they will have on the future economic opportunities for the United Kingdom and its position relative to key partner nations around the globe,” Joanne Osendarp, co-head of McDermott’s International Trade group, said. “Our team is one of the strongest in the world when it comes to trade negotiations and we look forward to bringing those skills to bear as the UK government navigates this complex global trade landscape.”

The National Association of Manufacturers CEO is calling on the Biden administration to "act as quickly as possible to finalize and publicize [its China] strategy. Such a clear, robust strategy on China, including U.S.-China trade, would be critical in bolstering manufacturers’ efforts to retain and hire American workers, invest in domestic operations and adjust supply chains, and providing meaningful opportunities for manufacturers to seek targeted relief from broad application of Section 301 tariffs."

An annual survey of U.S. firms with operations in China that are members of the U.S.-China Business Council found that about 80% of firms said that U.S.-China tensions affected their businesses. Of that group, about half said it caused lost sales in China; about a quarter said they lost sales due to Chinese retaliatory tariffs.

The shift from NAFTA to USMCA has been taxing for vehicle manufacturing sector companies, panelists on a KPMG seminar said about the trade deal, one year in. But for Georgia-Pacific, compliance is simpler after the rewrite. Myesha Cottom, director of international trade at Georgia-Pacific, said that getting rid of the template for NAFTA goods and going to minimum data elements means less administrative burden. "I’m optimistic that the administrative burden will continue to decrease," she said during the July 28 webinar.

Uber Freight will acquire Transplace for about $2.25 billion, the companies said July 22. “Completion of this transaction will enable Uber Freight to serve substantially more customers at all levels of the freight industry and will expand its presence into Mexico and through new capabilities in intermodal and customs brokerage,” Uber said. Uber's purchase of Transplace from private equity firm TPG Capital includes “$750 million in common stock of Uber Freight’s parent company, Uber Technologies” and the rest in cash, it said. The deal shows the ride-hailing company is “leaning into Freight” after divesting noncore businesses, John Blackledge, an analyst at Cowen, wrote to investors July 23.