As SteelOrbis previously reported, in the fourth round of talks in the North American Free Trade (NAFTA) renegotiations scheduled to run through October 17, the US introduced a proposal to increase the share of a car that originates in the US and include steel in NAFTA’s tracing list.
Industry experts and union representatives warn that an adoption of the higher rules of origin may challenge supply chains resulting in automakers moving production away from the US and reducing US jobs and investment. Imported vehicles would pay the low US most-favored nation tariff of 2.5 percent upon entering the US per present rules and would avoid the cumbersome and costly NAFTA rules of origin.