Pelosi pushes to keep tech’s legal shield out of trade agreement with Mexico and Canada

12/05/19 – CNBC

By Lauren Feiner

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is pushing to keep a key legal shield for tech companies out of a new trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news on Thursday.

The effort could throw a wrench into progress Congress seemed to be making on the pact and would be a blow to tech companies who already fear losing the legal protection within the U.S. Just last week, Pelosi said House Democrats were “within range” of reaching a pact they can support for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, which would replace NAFTA.

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Mexico resists U.S. demands on trade deal, wants Senate to back tweaks

12/03/19 – Reuters

By Dave Graham

Mexico’s president on Tuesday pushed back against U.S. efforts to subject his country’s labor market to external oversight under a new North American trade deal, and said the Mexican Senate should be consulted before new changes are signed off.

Mexico approved the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) earlier this year, but U.S. ratification has been held up by Democratic lawmakers seeking to have stricter enforcement of new Mexican labor rules enshrined in the deal.

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Arizona-Mexico trade relationship continues to boost border economies

12/02/19 – Chamber Business News

By Graham Bosch

Mexico is Arizona’s top trading partner, accounting for about 30 percent of the state’s exports to foreign markets, according to an extensive ongoing study by the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.

With that in mind, it’s no wonder that business leaders, trade experts and economists agree the cross-border relationship is of the utmost importance to Arizona when it comes to trade, manufacturing, education, safety, tourism and more.

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Mexico bars shipment of glyphosate pesticide

Photo by Martin Lopez on Pexels.com

11/25/19 – AP News

The Mexican government says it won’t allow a 1,000-ton shipment of the pesticide glyphosate into the country, citing health and environmental concerns.

Mexico became the latest in a string of countries to announce bans on glyphosate, the active ingredient in weed killer Roundup.

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Florida and Mexican Seaports Agree to Enhance Trade

11/21/19 – The Maritime Executive

On behalf of Florida’s 15 seaports, the Florida Ports Council has entered into a Letter of Intent with the Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine of Mexico to maintain relations that promote international commerce and economic development.

Mexico is Florida’s second largest trading partner. In 2018, trade between Mexico and Florida reached $10.8 billion. According to the United States Department of Commerce, this was an 8.3 percent increase over 2017 in exports alone.

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Inside the bloody cartel war for Mexico’s multibillion-dollar avocado industry

11/20/19 – Los Angeles Times

By Katie Linthicum

The cartel members showed up in this verdant stretch of western Mexico armed with automatic weapons and chainsaws.

Soon they were cutting timber day and night, the crash of falling trees echoing throughout the virgin forest. When locals protested, explaining that the area was protected from logging, they were held at gunpoint and ordered to keep quiet.

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IMF Says Mexico Credit Line May Be Cut From Current $74 Billion

11/20/19 – Bloomberg

By Eric Martin and Patrick Gillespie

The International Monetary Fund’s board plans to vote on Mexico’s request to renew its flexible credit line, possibly for less than the current $74 billion, before it expires next week.

Mexico is interested in reducing the size now that there’s greater certainty around its trade relationship with the U.S., Alejandro Werner, the IMF’s Western Hemisphere director, said in an interview Wednesday at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. Werner said he expects the board’s decision before the current agreement expires Nov. 28.

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Parts with passports: how free trade drives GM’s engines

Photo by Mike on Pexels.com

11/18/19 – Reuters

By Nick Carey

Long before the pistons for General Motors Co V-6 engines reach the U.S. No. 1 automaker’s Romulus, Michigan plant, they are seasoned international travelers.

Powdered aluminum from Tennessee is shipped to Pennsylvania and forged at high temperatures into connecting rods for the pistons, which are then sent to Canada to be shaped and polished. They are then shipped to Mexico for sub-assembly and finally the finished pistons are loaded onto trucks bound for Romulus to become part of a GM V-6 engine.

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U.S. House Speaker seeks to pass Mexico, Canada trade pact this year

11/14/19 – Reuters

By Richard Cowan

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said a breakthrough in talks with the Trump administration on the trade pact with Mexico and Canada could be imminent and that she wanted to pass the deal by the end of the year.

“We are moving positively in terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. Again, it all comes down to … enforcement,” she told reporters at a news conference “I do believe that if we can get this to the place it needs to be, which is imminent, that this can be a template for future trade agreements.”

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Borderlands: Wait times in Laredo and San Diego are up; Trucker dies in fatal I-10 crash in San Antonio

Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com

11/09/19 – Freight Waves

By Noi Mahoney

Holiday surge increases wait times at Laredo and San Diego border crossings

As the holiday season approaches, businesses across the United States have begun scrambling to ensure goods will arrive in time for Black Friday and Christmas.

The result has been increased wait times for commercial trucks crossimg the U.S.-Mexico border at ports of entry in Laredo and San Diego.

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