Mexican Foreign Minister: Mexico will not accept US labour inspections in USMCA trade pact

The Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said today that Mexico would accept a US proposal regulating steel in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, but only if the rule took effect at least five years after the pact's ratification, according to a Reuters news. 

Ebrard also said the Mexican government would not accept the U.S. proposal to conduct labor inspections in Mexico, or U.S. demands over rules for aluminum, in revisions to the trade deal known as USMCA.

Key notes

• Ebrard says more than 90% of USMCA is not open to revision, but there will be an addendum to the deal.
• Ebrard says Mexico will not accept US labour inspections in USMCA trade pact.

FX implications

The US and Mexico are working out the final details in changes to the new North American trade pact. However, as close as they might be to finalising negotiations, a positive for MXN, the news comes as a setback. Additionally, speaker Nancy Pelosi could still ask for more tweaks to what US Robert Lighthizer and Mexican Undersecretary for North America, Jesús Seade, are negotiating.