In coordination with the Mexican industry, the SE will lead the negotiations with US authorities in order to maintain competitiveness and certainty for trade and investment in North America, “allowing the Mexican industry to continue exporting photovoltaic cells and modules to the United States under the preferential conditions negotiated in the T-MEC”, assured the agency.
Safeguards are “urgent” measures regarding the increase in imports of a product, when these have caused or threaten to cause serious damage to the national production of the importing country, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In August 2021, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) began a procedure to determine if it should recommend extending the validity of the safeguard. For this reason, the US Trade Policy Committee, headed by the USTR, recommended that President Joe Biden increase the measure for four more years, the Ministry of Economy reported in a statement.
The Mexican government reiterated its openness to dialogue. However, the statement reads, “it is evaluating, in parallel, the possibility of taking measures in accordance with the T-MEC and the World Trade Organization, including the rights of exclusion and compensation/suspension of concessions.”