From: Shopfloor | National Association of Manufacturers
By Ryan Ong
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The NAM on Friday joined 37 other organizations on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border in a letter urging the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to halt efforts to impose these new rules. Our collective organizations represent companies that supporting millions of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity – working for industries in nearly every area of bilateral trade, from aerospace to retail, from autos to food and beverages, and from heavy equipment to cosmetics.
This is not a new battle, but it has taken on new urgency in recent months. USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Information Service (APHIS) first proposed removing this exemption as far back as 2010, but met with widespread industry concern. In 2015, APHIS, ignoring that concern, pushed to include another proposal on the regulatory agenda for this year’s U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC), which is now scheduled to meet on May 4-5 in Washington.