WASHINGTON — The United States and Mexico moved quickly Monday to defuse a dispute over President Donald Trump’s revamped North American trade pact.
At issue are five labor attaches the United States intends to send to Mexico to oversee the Mexican government’s labor reforms. Those plans were revealed Friday when the U.S. published the implementing legislation for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — the legal text of the pact that the U.S. Congress will vote on.
Over the weekend, Mexico’s top trade negotiator, Jesus Seade, complained that Mexico had been blindsided by the provision on the attaches.
All along, Mexican negotiators have rejected the idea that American officials could roam the country, inspecting factories to make sure Mexico was living up to commitments to let workers organize unions and bargain for higher wages and better working conditions.
Seade took to Twitter declare: “Mexico will NEVER accept them if it is in any way about disguised inspectors, for one simple reason: Mexican law prohibits it.”
It was unclear what Mexico could actually do about the attaches: Its Senate had already ratified the trade agreement. Seade said the U.S. attaches were not mentioned in the pact the Mexicans had agreed to.
On Monday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer wrote a letter reassuring Seade that “these personnel will not be ‘labor inspectors’ and will abide by all relevant Mexican laws.”
“My suspicion is that these attaches will take a big-picture view and focus on egregious situations and point those out and give notice to the Mexican government,” said Miguel Noyola, a partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP, who specializes in business in Mexico. “I don’t think they will just be going on fishing expeditions.”
And Seade, after meeting with Lighthizer in Washington Monday, told reporters: “I am satisfied. And I called the authorities in Mexico, and they are satisfied.”
