Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37 Issue 3 (Monday, January 22, 2001)

[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 3 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Pages 173-175]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7401--To Implement an Accelerated Schedule of Duty 
Elimination Under the North American Free Trade Agreement and for Other 
Purposes

January 17, 2001

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    1. On December 17, 1992, the Governments of Canada, Mexico, and the 
United States of America entered into the North

[[Page 174]]

American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The NAFTA was approved by the 
Congress in section 101(a) of the North American Free Trade Agreement 
Implementation Act (the ``NAFTA Implementation Act'') (19 U.S.C. 
3311(a)) and was implemented with respect to the United States by 
Presidential Proclamation 6641 of December 15, 1993.
    2. Section 201(b) of the NAFTA Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 
3331(b)) authorizes the President, subject to the consultation and 
layover requirements of section 103(a) of the NAFTA Implementation Act 
(19 U.S.C. 3313(a)), to proclaim accelerated schedules for duty 
elimination that the United States may agree to with Mexico or Canada. 
Consistent with Article 302(3) of the NAFTA, I, through my duly 
empowered representative, entered into an agreement with the Government 
of Mexico on November 30, 2000, providing for an accelerated schedule of 
duty elimination for specific goods of Mexico. The consultation and 
layover requirements of section 103(a) of the NAFTA Implementation Act 
with respect to such schedule of duty elimination will be satisfied on 
December 30, 2000.
    3. Pursuant to section 201(b) of the NAFTA Implementation Act, I 
have determined that the modifications hereinafter proclaimed of duties 
on goods originating in the territory of a NAFTA party are necessary or 
appropriate (i) to maintain the general level of reciprocal and mutually 
advantageous concessions with respect to Mexico provided for by the 
NAFTA, and (ii) to carry out the agreement with Mexico providing an 
accelerated schedule of duty elimination for specific goods.
    4. Section 213(b)(3)(A) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act 
(CBERA) (19 U.S.C. 2703(b)(3)(A)), as amended by section 211(a) of the 
United States-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (Title II of Public 
Law 106-200) (CBTPA), provides that the tariff treatment accorded at any 
time during the transition period defined in section 213(b)(5)(D) of the 
CBERA (19 U.S.C. 2703(b)(5)(D)), as amended by section 211(a) of the 
CBTPA, to certain articles that are originating goods of designated 
CBTPA beneficiary countries shall be identical to the tariff treatment 
that is accorded at such time under Annex 302.2 of the NAFTA to an 
article described in the same 8-digit subheading of the Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) that is a good of Mexico and 
is imported into the United States. Such articles are described in sub 
paragraphs (B) through (F) of section 213(b)(1) of the CBERA (19 U.S.C. 
2703(b)(1)(B)-(F)), as amended by section 211(a) of the CBTPA.
    5. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the ``1974 
Act'')(19 U.S.C. 2483), authorizes the President to embody in the HTS 
the substance of the relevant provisions of Acts affecting import 
treatment, and actions thereunder, including the removal, modification, 
continuance, or imposition of any rate of duty or other import 
restriction.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 201(b) 
of the NAFTA Implementation Act, section 211 of the CBTPA, section 213 
of the CBERA, and section 604 of the 1974 Act, do proclaim that:
    (1) In order to provide for an accelerated schedule of duty 
elimination for specific goods of Mexico under the NAFTA and to provide 
identical tariff treatment for originating goods of a CBTPA beneficiary 
country provided for in the same HTS subheading, the tariff treatment 
set forth in the HTS is modified as provided in section 1 of the Annex 
to this proclamation.
    (2) In order to provide for an accelerated schedule of duty 
elimination for specific goods of Mexico under the NAFTA, the tariff 
treatment set forth in the HTS is modified as provided in section 2 of 
the Annex to this proclamation.
    (3) Any provisions of previous proclamations and Executive orders 
that are inconsistent with the actions taken in this proclamation are 
superseded to the extent of such inconsistency.
    (4) The amendments made to the HTS by the Annex to this proclamation 
shall be effective with respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse for consumption, on or after January 1, 2001.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day 
of January, in

[[Page 175]]

the year of our Lord two thousand one, and of the Independence of the 
United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., January 22, 
2001]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on January 18, and it will be published in the Federal 
Register on January 23.