Sergio Gómez Lora
, a former negotiator with the Mexican government, is now the CEO of the Mexican consulting firm IQOM. He also heads the Washington office of the Business Coordinating Council of Mexico. And it was as a representative of Mexican business that he led off the panel discussion at GBD last week on
USMCA and the Business of North America
. A transcript of Mr. Gómez’s remarks is available on the GBD website, along with the audio recordings from the event (see the links below). The three elements of his presentation we shall focus here are 1) the significance of the
Mexico’s ratification of the agreement, USCMA,
2) the dual role of
Mexico’s labor reforms
, and 3) the
Mexican business community’s
assessment of the
outlook for action on USMCA in the United States
.
The first of these, the signal being sent by the López Obrador administration, is the topic of today’s featured quote. Here is a bit more for that portion of Mr. Gómez’s presentation:
“Over a month ago, the Mexican Senate ratified the USMCA – and that with 114 votes in favor, 4 against, and 3 abstentions. This was a quite powerful vote. It means several things. I would think that, on the one hand, the López Obrador administration is sending a clear signal on its commitment to North American integration. [This] is not minor.”
After all, as Mr. Gómez explained, the Mr. López Obrador heads a left-leaning government with a history of opposing free trade policies. He continued:
“On the other hand, I
believe the López Obrador government is saying,
when sending the agreement to the Senate and promoting its passage, that in their view, this negotiation is concluded, and
there is no appetite to re-open the text.”
The Labor Issue.
Arguably, Mexican labor law has become one of if not the most prominent issue in the consideration of USMCA by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Henry Cuellar,
a Texas Democrat, was the keynote speaker at GBD’s July 24 event, and he was clear on this point: there is broad acceptance of the fact that USCMA, the new NAFTA, includes strong labor provisions. The issue, he said, was enforcement.
The point Mr. Gómez made on July 24 was that improving labor conditions in Mexico is not just a sop to Americans for the sake of a new NAFTA. It is central to the policies of the new Mexican government. It was coincidental, he said, that Mexico’s new labor reform law followed so quickly on the heels of the signing of the USMCA.
We’ll pause here briefly to look at a line or two hailing the reform. This is from a May 1, 2019, report on the Vox website:
"Mexican
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
enacted a labor reform bill Wednesday that for the first time gives workers the legal right to bargain collectively with employers through independent labor unions, without fear of retaliation or harassment. The bill sailed through the House of Representatives earlier this month, and senators unanimously passed the bill Monday."
As to the reform, USMCA, and Mexico’s relationship to the United States, Mr. Gómez put it this way:
"The question that we are hearing is, are you able to enforce such an ambitious reform? And one thing I would say on that front is that this is a reform that is part of the agenda of the Mexican government.
This is not a reform that is in place because of the USMCA
. It was a coincidence that the negotiation ended when the new government was being elected, but
this labor reform is part of the core agenda of the López Obrador government.
They are committed to that; they are a very pro-labor government. So this reform will be in place with or without the USMCA, because it is a key part of the government’s agenda."
That said, Mr. Gómez also noted that, because the reform is tied into the agreement, it would be very difficult for a future Mexican administration to reverse it.
The U.S. Congress, A Mexican View
. Mr. Gómez did not make any predictions, but he did say his team had met with about a hundred members of Congress in the past six months, adding:
“I am more optimistic than I was a few months ago because I see a dynamic in place in Congress,”
namely, the establishment of working groups etc.
He added:
“I don’t know if we will be there in the fall, but it is clear to me that at least the homework to get there is being done.”
