The result of the meeting of the Free Trade Commission of the Agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC), was not the best, almost a year after the entry into force of the renegotiation, after the critical issues that They had to be played this Monday and Tuesday, mainly between our country and the American Union, especially those that were controversial also during the renegotiation of the formerly called North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Mexico pointed out that there are investigations by the United States on certain agricultural products, the interpretation that the United States makes of the rules of origin in the automotive sector and the position it has taken on the subject of motor transport.
But the United States put on the table the energy issue, the importation of biogenetic products and the labor issue, acknowledged Tatiana Clouthier, Secretary of the Economy.
“We both promised to work collaboratively to enforce the commitments of the T-MEC,” he said in a harassed press videoconference.
He also indicated that regarding motor transportation, Mexico asked the neighboring country to the north to review the implementation of the legislation on this issue in order to correctly reflect market access in the TMEC, said Luz María de la Mora, undersecretary of Commerce.
Regarding the issue of rules of origin, specifically the automotive sector, the official said that Mexico and Canada recognized flexibilities negotiated in the Treaty and that the United States does not share, so this topic will continue to be discussed among the countries.
Regarding the reforms in labor matters, Clouthier Carrillo pointed out that “Mexico, the United States and Canada express the main concerns regarding the correct functioning of the T-MEC. The T-MEC made it possible to meet a clear need to strengthen our commitments in order to ensure the continuity of our integration, ”he said.
He added that the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare gave a report on the implementation process of the new reform, and that before the case of the General Motors plant in Silao, Guanajuato, was made public, the STPS and Economy had already taken letters in the matter, without specifying the actions.
Similarly, Clouthier announced, without disclosing the name of the company, that in a few months the construction of a battery plant will begin, and that there are Mexican companies manufacturing electric cars. “We are going for an industry that rises to the occasion and that can open up to the markets,” he said.
On the other hand, regarding the interpretation that the United States has to estimate the regional content of vehicles, an issue that has been discussed in previous meetings, it was agreed to continue working in the committee of rules of origin to bring the position of the United States closer to that of Mexico and Canada.
“Both Canada and Mexico have an interpretation that recognizes the flexibilities that were negotiated within the agreement itself, while the United States considers that the way it is interpreting it is correct,” de la Mora explained.
The issue of land transportation has been put on the table by Mexico, particularly what corresponds to the interpretation that the United States has made regarding what is understood as the market to which Mexican carriers are given access.
For this reason, the federal official commented that the American Union “has introduced some concepts that lead to think that the application standard is much more relaxed and more vague and this generates uncertainty for carriers and for their investments in the United States. We are requesting the USTR and the Biden administration to review that interpretation that it has embodied in the implementing legislation and in the transportation regulations so that the legislation in the United States correctly reflects what we consider was the negotiation that was made in the T-MEC ”Said Luz María de la Mora.
Regarding the environmental issue, they touched on the points of marine litter and the actions that the Mexican government, at its three levels, has carried out as well as those carried out by civil society, the protection of the environment and the reinforcement of legislation on environmental matters.
In June, the joint environment agenda will be presented at the meeting of the committee on the subject.
Conservation and trade were also discussed, as well as the coordination of ports, airports and borders.
It was also indicated that the three ministers at this meeting, that is, Katherine Tai from the US, Tatiana Clouthier from Mexico and Mary Ng from Canada received the progress reports of the 11 committees of the T-MEC Free Trade Commission in matters of trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, trade matters on textiles and clothing, competitiveness, rules and procedures of origin, financial and transport services, intellectual property and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Clouthier highlighted the creation of opportunities for entrepreneurs in the region, with an emphasis on women, indigenous groups, youth and minorities; and the first SME dialogue will be called to take place in San Antonio, Texas, in October of this year.
In terms of competitiveness, the Committee was mandated to develop projects to strengthen value chains and professionalize the workforce in sectors such as battery production and electric vehicles, among others, said the Minister of Economy.
“The three ministers adopted the second free trade decision that includes: provisions on uniform regulations, the rules of procedure for Chapter 31 and the code of conduct in French and Spanish,” reported Tatiana Clouthier.
On the dialogue with Canada, a high-level working group will be created, it will be chaired by Clouthier and the Canadian Ng; It will be made up of representatives of the private sector to strengthen the bilateral relationship and investment opportunities.
Among other topics, they discussed the reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the participation of Mexico in the Otawa Group.
The Secretary of Economy of Mexico, had to go to the press conference apologizing for starting an hour late, as she maintained that the meeting on Tuesday was prolonged because the joint statement was being worked on: “always a comma, or a full stop or full stop makes a difference, so we discuss commas and periods ”.
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