As Trump calls USMCA ‘irrelevant,’ chemical groups renew support for deal

Chemical and plastics resin groups from North America met in Mexico City to defend the USMCA trade deal, after President Donald Trump called it irrelevant. (CANADIAN PRESS)

As Canada, Mexico and the U.S. prepare to renegotiate the United States, Mexico and Canada (USMCA) trade agreement, chemical industry trade groups from the three countries are renewing their call to keep the deal in place and make targeted improvements.

Their push comes a day after President Donald Trump said during a Jan. 13 event at a Michigan auto plant that the USMCA — which Trump negotiated in his first term — is “irrelevant” and that there’s “no real advantage to it. ... Canada would love it. Canada wants it. They need it.”

But at a joint meeting Jan. 14 in Mexico City, leaders from the region’s chemical and plastics resin sector had a very different view.

“As we approach the upcoming review, the focus should be on implementation and enforcement, not wholesale renegotiation,” said Greg Moffatt, president and CEO of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, in a joint statement with the American Chemistry Council and ANIQ, the Mexican Chemical Manufacturers Association.

“CUSMA works — and it works especially well for an integrated sector like chemistry,” Moffatt said, using the Canadian acronym for the trade pact.

The associations met along with companies and government officials, and urged the three countries to better implement the USMCA’s existing Annex on Chemical Substances and to see the trade deal as a tool to integrate the region’s chemical and resin manufacturing sectors against global competition.

“In our industry, which is facing fierce global competition and unfair import competition from other countries, the importance of the USMCA cannot be overstated in solidifying North American chemical integration,” said Kimerly Wise White, ACC’s vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs.

ANIQ CEO José Carlos Pons echoed that theme, saying that a cohesive North American chemicals sector can help address pressure from global overcapacity.

“[Acting] as a cohesive region is essential to overcome the increasing pressure from global overcapacity in the chemical sector, particularly in regions where production has expanded rapidly,” he said, calling an integrated chemical industry critical for the competitiveness of North America.

The associations pointed to detailed recommendations they made, like establishing a working group for the annex and working on regulatory cooperation to strengthen supply chains, investor confidence and areas where North America has a competitive advantage.

“Implementation of these ideas could positively transform North American chemical manufacturing, particularly addressing common challenges of regulatory simplification and unfair import competition,” they said. “The targeted suggestions made by ACC, ANIQ and CIAC could be incorporated into the USMCA without renegotiating the entire Agreement.”

* Source : https://www.plasticsnews.com/public-policy/pn-north-american-chemical-groups-push-usmca/