Ways and Means Democrats List Labor Concerns in NAFTA Rewrite
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., as he promised in his first letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer earlier this week, is laying out specific criticisms of the NAFTA rewrite that pertain to Mexico's labor standards. The letter, sent April 11, was signed by every Democrat on the committee, from pro-trade leaders to the most NAFTA-skeptical. "[T]here are particular concerns regarding the enforceability of the violence and intimidation provision in the new Agreement," they wrote.
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The Democrats do find some things to praise about the new labor chapter -- that its elaboration on the May 10 Agreement language is designed to "take into account enforcement challenges that the United States has encountered in the last 12 years." They are referring to the lost case under CAFTA in 2017 (see 1706270087), which also took six years to adjudicate. "While the new Agreement incorporates footnotes that attempt to address shortcomings in labor chapter language exposed by the arbitral panel in the labor dispute with Guatemala, it is difficult to say whether these will be sufficient," they wrote.
They noted that the old labor side letter has been toothless. Since 1998, there were 39 submissions that alleged non-compliance with the obligations. "Yet to this day, not a single one of those submissions has led to a formal arbitration between the parties or any penalty," they said. And, they suggest, without a stronger state-to-state dispute provision, history will repeat itself (see 1904020047). "We are also concerned that the dispute settlement mechanism applicable to the new Agreement’s labor -- and other -- obligations, are designed to be easily frustrated and will be ineffective."