US-Mexico trade deal raises worker hopes on both sides of border
| Boston and Mexico City
A new United States-Mexico deal could end up doing something novel for an international trade agreement: putting concerns of workers near the center of the accord.
President Trump touted this promise in announcing the tentative agreement. And Mexico鈥檚 labor-oriented president-elect is backing the deal alongside the nation鈥檚 current president.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an incredible deal for both parties,鈥� Mr. Trump said Monday in a joint announcement from the Oval Office, with Mexican President Enrique Pe帽a Nieto linked in by phone. 鈥淢ost importantly, it鈥檚 an incredible deal for the workers and for the citizens of both countries.鈥�
Why We Wrote This
A widespread concern is that globalization favors big business over worker interests. Leaders in the United States and Mexico say their new trade deal moves in a new direction.
There鈥檚 not yet a formal text to judge how much that boast will be borne out in practice, labor advocates in both nations are quick to note. But the deal does represent at least some departure from an era when trade deals left worker concerns largely on the periphery 鈥� contributing to a backlash against globalization that politicians including Trump have tapped into.
Junking parts of Republican orthodoxy, the trade agreement includes several ideas that organized labor and liberals in Congress have been pushing for decades. Most dramatically, the pact helps US factory workers by linking low wage levels with trade limitations. In addition, it includes sweeping reforms of Mexican labor law that, if carried out and enforced, could improve the pay and working conditions for Mexican workers.
The deal, which still awaits negotiations with Canada, the third member of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), has attracted guarded initial support from industry, key liberals in the US, and labor-rights groups in Mexico.
鈥淭he very fact that there鈥檚 a labor chapter in the text instead of a side agreement is an encouraging sign,鈥� says Gladys Cisneros, program director in Mexico for the Solidarity Center, an international nonprofit promoting worker rights.
Guarded optimism
鈥淲e are optimistic that the new agreement will maintain and encourage the ongoing competitiveness of the United States and North American auto industries,鈥� the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC), a trade group representing the Big Three automakers, .
鈥淭his is an important step forward,鈥� (D) of Ohio, a key critic of the current NAFTA agreement, in a statement. 听
But absent the text, which has not yet been released, they and others say it鈥檚 hard to pass judgment.
鈥淲e remain committed to working with the administration to get NAFTA right,鈥� wrote United Autoworkers president Gary Jones and four other union leaders . 鈥淏ut, as always, the devil is in the details.鈥�
听
For example: The provision that 40 to 45 percent of a car has to be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour to avoid US tariffs. On the face of things, that should mean workers in the US (and Canada, if it signs on to the deal) would be guaranteed a certain share of the work. (Mexican autoworkers on the factory floor make .) 听
What鈥檚 not clear is whether those workers have to be North American. Perhaps German workers earning more than $16 an hour would also fulfill the requirement. And even if they don鈥檛, will foreign cars coming to the US via Mexico be subject to the current and minor 2.5 percent tariff or a more punishing surcharge听that the Trump administration is considering on car imports?
Another unknown: the Mexican labor reforms. Between 70 and 90 percent of collective bargaining agreements registered in Mexico fall under the category of 鈥渆mployer protection unions,鈥� Cisneros says. Typically, a 鈥渦nion鈥� is set up and a contract negotiated before workers are ever hired, so they have no say in wages, hours of work, or other conditions. Critics say these unions are meant to ensure workers rights and labor standards are ignored.
The new trade agreement calls for those unions to be eliminated within four or five years. Instead, workers would be guaranteed the right to vote in secret for a union (so they can鈥檛 be retaliated against), forming bargaining units that would push for better pay and working conditions.
The new deal also addresses the plight of migrant workers who come from Mexico to the US on temporary work visas. An听H-2 visa, for example, binds them to working for the company that sponsored them, making it hard to speak up if they are suffering labor abuse or their wages are withheld. Even if they do complain about abuses, the current NAFTA resolution process is flawed, says Elizabeth Mauldin, policy director for the Centro de los Derechos del Migrante Inc., which has offices in Mexico City and Baltimore. 鈥淭here is no clear timeline or transparency. A worker鈥檚 complaint could languish for years on end without response.鈥�
Of course, trade agreements can only force change on the margins because nations are reluctant to cede too much sovereignty over their own labor laws, says Gary Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. 鈥淭he real issue is not the promises, it's the enforcement of the promises. Who can bring a complaint? 鈥� How are these cases decided? ... What's the penalty?鈥�
A moment for change
Still, some activists are heartened that, although the agreement听could听be signed by Mr. Pe帽a Nieto, it听would听be administered by his more liberal successor, Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador.
鈥淩ight now is a historic moment,鈥� says Marlene Sol铆s,听a labor expert at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte just outside of Tijuana. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have a new government that ran on a [platform] of commitment to a new social vision and commitment to the people.鈥� In addition, Mexican workers have slowly been making inroads during the past three decades in terms of standing up for their rights and forming their own unions, despite the many risks that come with that.
The new deal鈥檚 changes in some NAFTA provisions 鈥� such as the widely disliked protections for foreign investors 鈥� are likely to get broad support in Congress. But other changes 鈥� such as a reinstatement of buy-American clauses and whether and when the new agreement might sunset 鈥� could pit conservatives and liberals against each other.
鈥淭he Trump administration is trying to bridge the gap and give both sides something,鈥澨齮o win bipartisan support,听says Simon Lester, a trade policy analyst of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. The thinking goes: 鈥淲e'll keep these [investor] protections for the oil companies who really want it, and we'll take them mostly out for [Democratic Sen.] Elizabeth Warren and maybe she'll support NAFTA. It's difficult because every time you do something to please one you've annoyed the other.鈥�
He says 鈥淚 don't envy鈥� the administration and the task before it.
Staff writer Mark Trumbull contributed to this story from Washington.
