This is the first meeting between the free trade commission of the treaty and the representatives of the private sector.
The Mexican delegation was headed by the president of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), Francisco Cervantes, and the president of the National Agricultural Council, Juan Cortina. On the US side was the president of the National Manufacturing Association, Jay Timmons, and on behalf of Canada, the senior adviser to the Business Council of Canada, Louise Blais.
The consensus between the three trading partners is to accelerate the plan to increase the production of what is consumed in North America, mainly in sectors such as the automotive and electronic sectors, said Economía in the statement.
The head of the Economy of Mexico, Raquel Buenrostro, highlighted achievements of the T-MEC that will make the region more competitive, such as: having more resilient supply chains in the face of eventual future contingencies, as well as the mechanisms that prevent the arrival of markets produced with forced labor .
In the meeting with the US trade representative, Katherine Tai, priority points for the bilateral agenda were addressed, such as: the energy issue, the consignment note, trade in the primary sector and relevant advances for the preservation of the vaquita porpoise and biodiversity in the upper Gulf of California.
During the meeting with Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of Commerce, the topic of the new Mexican mining law, the panel’s ruling on the rules of origin of the automotive sector, among others, continued.
The Mexican government claimed the labor agenda as one of the successful flakes in the implementation of the USMCA commitments, however, it emphasized the importance of a reasonable and good faith use of the rapid response labor mechanism, “which must be a last resort resource and should not seek to replace, but in any case strengthen national institutions,” the statement read.
Mexico raised the concern with the United States that all the cases they present are duly substantiated, that the alleged denial of union rights occurred after the entry into force of the USMCA and that there is a commercial relationship between the plant in question and the claimant country.
