NAFTZ Testimony before USTR’s USMCA Review Hearing – December 10, 2025

On the Friday, December 5, NAFTZ’s Director of Advocacy and Strategic Relations, Melissa Irmen testified before agency representatives about the disadvantage USMCA’s duty referral restrictions puts on U.S. FTZ manufacturers.

These duty referral restrictions, a legacy carried over from NAFTZ, require U.S. manufacturers producing in U.S. Foreign Trade Zones to pay duties to the U.S. government on exported products to Canada and Mexico, whereas Mexican and Canadian counterparts do not have pay similar duties to their countries before exporting to the United States.  In fact, U.S. FTZ manufacturers can export duty-free to any other country in the world except for Canada and Mexico.  A change to USCMA would end this disparity to U.S. FTZ manufacturers and level the playing field between the U.S. and its neighbors.  Read the full summary of this testimony, the entire testimony presented, and NAFTZ's written comments here...