translated from Spanish: Inspectors no, says Jesus Seade and discards ‘little letters’ in T-MEC

The Undersecretary for North America, Jesús Seade, rejected That U.S. officials oversee compliance with Mexican labor standards, as pointed out by a bill introduced at the Capitol to ratify the T-MEC, and said that there were “no small letters” in the signed agreements.
“The signing between Mexico, the United States and Canada is a trinational treaty. It does NOT have ‘small letters’, it is 100% public. It’s a very good deal for Mexico,” the Mexican negotiator at Twiter said after deleting a series of messages about it.

Important clarifications about TMEC and its relationship to the bill just presented at the US Congress.
I open thread:
— Jesus Seade (@JesusSeade) December 15, 2019
According to Seade, for U.S. congressmen to ratify the treaty, they must pass a bill – introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R.543 – that, in this case, includes a mechanism for monitoring Mexico’s Labor Reform.
Read more: Mexico rejects US officials overseeing labour standards for T-MEC
“As part of this monitoring mechanism, it is envisaged to name 5 labor diplomatic attachées in MX, whose role is unclear but which Mexico WILL REMEMBER if it is in any way in question by inspectors in disguise, for a simple reason: Mexican law forbids it,” he said.
Yesterday, Jesús Seade criticized the US congressmen’s move and stated that it is “the fruit of political decisions by Congress and the administration in the United States, it was not, for obvious reasons, consulted with Mexico.”
At a press conference, he said he sent a letter to U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer with the complaint and would travel to Washington this Sunday to discuss the issue with U.S. lawmakers.
What does the law say?
According to the document submitted on Friday, the Secretary of Labour shall recruit up to 5 officials whose duties will be “to assist the Interagency Labour Committee to monitor and enforce Mexico’s labour obligations” and “to submit quarterly reports to the Inter-Agency Labour Committee on Mexico’s efforts to comply with its labour obligations”.
Find out: Senate approves T-MEC amendments; there was little time to analyze it, he accuses opposition
Likewise, the obligations of such an “Interagency Labour Committee” include the coordination of activities for the implementation of labour obligations, including visits “as necessary to evaluate the implementation of Mexico’s labour reform and the fulfilment of labour obligations”, as well as to receive and revise “quarterly assessments of labour aggregates with respect to the implementation and compliance” of such reform.
The legislation, submitted to the US Congress, is part of the process of ratification of the trade treaty between the United States, Mexico and Canada, which was signed by representatives of the three countries on December 10. On Thursday, the Mexican Senate gave its approval to the agreed changes to the pact.
The treaty was originally signed in November 2018 and had only been ratified by Mexico. To approve it in the United States, Democratic lawmakers demanded forecasts for Mexico to comply with labor standards that prevent it from taking advantage of the more expensive U.S. workforce.
You may be interested: Labor changes in Mexico that are still pending for the signing of the T-MEC
The T-MEC will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has been heavily attacked by US President Donald Trump, which led to the negotiation of a new agreement.
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With information from AFP
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Original source in Spanish