US concerned about Mexico trade-deal performance, commitment

President Joe Biden’s administration has a number of concerns about Mexico’s performance and commitment to its free trade deal with the U.S. and will discuss them with the nation in the coming weeks, America’s top negotiator said.

The U.S. will meet in the next few weeks with its partners in the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement for an annual review, Trade Representative Katherine Tai told senators at a hearing on Wednesday. Tai said that she’s committed to using all available tools to make sure that the nations are living up to their promises in the deal.

Tai, who helped negotiate the USMCA as a top congressional staff member—rules for labor, in particular—said that the U.S. worked to put the most effective enforcement tools possible into the agreement, and that the only way to test their effectiveness is by using them.

“I am very committed, I am not afraid to use the enforcement tools,” she said. “Some of them are cooperative, some of them are more confrontational.”