La Jornada: The threats to the T-MEC harm US families: congressmen

A group of Democratic congressmen warned that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) remains vitally important to the country’s economic security and prosperity, but that the confrontational rhetoric and coercive behavior that have defined the last year generate uncertainty that raises costs for American families.

In a letter addressed yesterday to the United States Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, the congressmen recognized that the review scheduled for July 1 is an opportunity to introduce necessary adjustments, but they demand that Washington abandon that logic of confrontation and reaffirm its commitment to the trilateral structure of the agreement before sitting down to negotiate.

The letter, led by legislator Linda T. Sánchez and ranking member Richard E. Neal, warns that the coercive behavior of the United States government has generated economic uncertainty that raises costs for American families.

Among the points to improve, the deficiencies in the rapid response mechanism stand out, an instrument created in the 2019 renegotiation to address violations of union rights in Mexico.

The congressmen denounce that procedural delays by employers and Mexican authorities put union organizing campaigns at risk and prolong situations of violence and intimidation.

They also point to the difficulty for workers to access business records that prove that their workplaces are covered by the agreement, since this documentation remains in the possession of the companies themselves.

They ask for salary and environmental improvements

Democrats call for the introduction of sectoral collective bargaining agreements in strategic industries to reduce the wage gap between Mexico and the United States, which, they maintain, drives the relocation of jobs and manufacturing south of the border. They also urge the Mexican government to commit sufficient budgetary resources to the surveillance and application of labor and environmental standards, after noting that key reforms agreed upon in 2019 remain unfinished.

In the environmental section, legislators demand the creation of a rapid response mechanism equivalent to that of labor, to expeditiously address specific pollution generated by companies that fail to comply with environmental standards.

Regarding economic security, they propose that the review serve to promote an investment review regime in Mexico comparable to that already operated by the United States and Canada.

They also propose greater trilateral coordination on critical minerals and a review of the tariffs for national security reasons imposed under section 232, whose unilateral application against USMCA partners, they warn, damages Washington’s credibility as a reliable partner.

In agriculture, they demand that Canada eliminate import restrictions on American wines and spirits and modify the allocation of tariff quotas for dairy products, which they believe denies real access to the Canadian market to United States producers.

In that same section, they draw attention to consumer boycotts in Canada and Mexico, and warn that offensive comments by President Donald Trump and high-level officials towards neighboring countries erode markets that exporters took years to build, with an effect as destructive as any formal trade barrier.