Mexico Flags U.S. Food-Plant Labor Concerns in Trade Tit-for-Tat
- Request comes just after U.S. raises Mexico auto-plant concern
- Nations are exercising enforcement provisions in USMCA
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Mexico flagged labor conditions in the U.S. agriculture and food-processing industries just after Washington raised worker-rights issues at a Mexican auto plant as the neighbors call each other out on enforcing rules of their new trade pact.
While U.S. federal law protects workers regardless of immigration status, factors such as ignorance, fear and employer abuse prevent migrant laborers from exercising their rights, Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., Esteban Moctezuma Barragan, said in a letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh published on the Foreign Ministry website Wednesday. Mexico made the allegations without identifying any specific sites.