Mexico

A new wrench has been thrown into U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement negotiations between Mexican Under Secretary for North America Jesús Seade and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, a key lawmaker told reporters on Thursday.

A major Mexican business group this week contended that some labor proposals recently advanced by Washington to strengthen the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will do the opposite and pledged to support countermoves by the Mexican government if necessary.

The Mexican government has received U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement proposals crafted by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and a group of House Democrats, Mexico’s chief trade negotiator said on Wednesday, adding that he initially had found them acceptable.

President Trump on Monday said the speaker “should put it up for a vote because, at some point pretty soon, you're going to have Canada and you're going have Mexico say, 'What's going on? Send the agreement back. Let's not make the deal.'”

The U.S. International Trade Commission determined on Friday that the U.S. industry has been harmed by dumped fresh tomatoes from Mexico, meaning a suspension agreement signed earlier this year by the Commerce Department and Mexican tomato growers will remain in effect.

Mexico’s lower house for the second time in two weeks has delayed approval of its FY2020 budget due to protests occurring outside of the Chamber of Deputies, pushing back the timeline for Mexico to approve funds to implement labor reforms that U.S. labor groups deem critical to their support of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Key House Democrats negotiating outstanding U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement concerns with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are waiting for administration officials to put their agreements in writing before moving forward, they said on Thursday.