CUSMA governance and committees
The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) established the Free Trade Commission in addition to committees, working groups, and other subsidiary bodies.
CUSMA Free Trade Commission
The Free Trade Commission (FTC) is the central institution of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) and is composed of government representatives of each Party at the level of Ministers or their designees. The role of the commission is elaborated under Article 30.2, including:
- considering matters with respect to implementation of the agreement, proposals to modify or amend the agreement; ways to improve trade and investment among Parties
- overseeing work of subsidiary bodies established under the agreement (such as the various chapter committees, sub-committees, or working groups)
- establishing and amending the rules of procedure and code of conduct for dispute settlement
- periodically reviewing the dispute settlement panel roster
- working to resolve disputes associated with the interpretation or application of the agreement
- issuing interpretations of the provisions of the agreement
Statements
- 2024 CUSMA Free Trade Commission joint statement - May 23, 2024
- 2024 CUSMA Mid-Year Meeting: Joint statement - January 25, 2024
- 2023 CUSMA Free Trade Commission joint statement - July 13, 2023
- 2023 CUSMA Deputies Meeting: Joint statement - January 26, 2023
- 2022 CUSMA Free Trade Commission joint statement - July 8, 2022
- 2022 CUSMA Deputies Meeting: Joint statement - January 13, 2022
- One-Year Anniversary of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement - Trilateral joint statement - July 7, 2021
- 2021 CUSMA Free Trade Commission joint statement - May 18, 2021
Decisions
- Decision No. 5 of the Free Trade Commission of the CUSMA, T-MEC, USMCA ("Agreement"), February 22, 2023
- Decision No. 4 of the Free Trade Commission of the CUSMA, T-MEC, USMCA ("Agreement"), October 20, 2022
- Decision No. 3 of the Free Trade Commission of the CUSMA, T-MEC, USMCA (“Agreement”)
- Decision No. 2 of the Free Trade Commission of the CUSMA, T-MEC, USMCA (“Agreement”), May 18, 2021
- Decision No. 1 of the Free Trade Commission of the CUSMA, T-MEC and USMCA (“Agreement”), July 2, 2020
Administrative documents and dispute settlement rosters
Latest versions of the administrative documents adopted by the Commission:
- Uniform Regulations
- Rules of Procedure
- Code of Conduct
- Rosters and Lists for Dispute Settlement Panels and Committees
Committees, working groups and other subsidiary bodies
The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA or “Agreement”) established 24 trilateral committees, working groups, and other subsidiary bodies between Canada, the United States and Mexico with mandates to implement the Agreement and resolve issues. This webpage includes information on each of the CUSMA committees, working groups and other subsidiary bodies. All committees report their activities to the Free Trade Commission (“Commission”) and meet once a year, unless otherwise specified in the text of the Agreement, as indicated below.
To learn more about CUSMA bodies please visit CUSMA committees, working groups and other subsidiary bodies.
Directives to committees
Inclusive trade
- Following the joint ministerial statement of the first CUSMA Free Trade Commission (FTC) meeting directing the committees to explore new approaches to better engage with underrepresented communities, the committees will:
- Consider the interests and needs of underrepresented groups in the conduct of committee work
- Liaise with CUSMA Coordinators, as appropriate, to solicit advice and guidance towards the identification of interest areas and strategies for better integrating inclusive trade considerations into their work
- Ensure that any public engagement or consultation activities consider means to encourage or facilitate the involvement of underrepresented groups
- As appropriate, the trilateral committees will provide an overview of work to advance inclusive trade efforts in trilateral committee reports when reporting to deputies and the FTC.
- The coordinators will meet at least once annually to discuss additional approaches to advance inclusive trade under the agreement, including sharing best practices, undertaking joint activities and advising the committees, where relevant, as they consider how best to incorporate inclusive trade into the work of the committees. They will report on this work to the FTC.
- Coordinators may choose to assign their roles in 1(b) and 3 to inclusive trade specific contact points.
Transparency
Recognizing the importance of transparency in implementing the agreement and that each party has its own processes for sharing information, the parties will publish on their respective CUSMA webpages:
- a list of committees under the agreement
- summaries of committee read-outs to the FTC/deputies, as appropriate, and as agreed to by the three parties
- Date Modified:
