With the “new NAFTA” nearing a House vote, U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer assured Mexico that disputes over labor provisions of the trade agreement will be resolved by independent panels. Mexico was suspicious that a U.S. proposal to post five Labor Department attaches in Mexico City was an underhanded way of bringing foreign labor inspectors into the country.
“These personnel will not be ‘labor inspectors’ and will abide by all relevant Mexican laws,” wrote Lighthizer in a letter to Jesus Kuri, Mexico’s chief trade negotiator for North America. Lighthizer pointed to a language in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that calls for appointment of independent, three-member panels to investigate whether workers at specific work sites in Mexico are being denied labor rights. “Those verifications will be conducted by the independent parties, not by labor attaches,” he wrote.
Seade told reporters that the letter satisfied Mexico’s concerns, reported Reuters. “Absolutely,” he said.
The House could vote as early Thursday to approve the USMCA. A Senate vote probably would wait until after an impeachment trial in January, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Over the weekend, Seade said the labor attaches were not part of revisions that the three nations accepted last week.