The theater of negotiation changes scene
This Monday the good thing begins. Marcelo Ebrard, our Secretary of the Economy, sits down with Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative. It is the first formal bilateral round towards the review of the T-MEC. But something smells different.
The curtain opens without the full cast. Canada will not be in this performance. And there is another absence that speaks louder: the leaders of the Mexican private sector do not travel to Washington D.C. to accompany the government. They watch from their seats.
“I am not aware that we have been invited to the review rounds,” said Octavio de la Torre de Stéffano, president of Concanaco-Servytur.
His statement is a sharp slam on the table. Although he clarifies that they did receive an invitation to meetings this week, the message is clear: the business community is not in the front row as before.
And what will be negotiated?
The topics on the table are juicy: import substitution from outside North America, rules of origin and security of value chains. Translation: how to protect ourselves economically in a turbulent world.
The private sector will send technicians and specialists to support the sector. But the big names, the ones that usually appear in the formal photos, are conspicuous by their absence.
“The data ‘are not going to be pulled out of a hat,'” De la Torre acknowledged about the need for business information.
Here is the political drama: while the technicians work, the American electoral clock ticks relentlessly. The legislative elections there condition every movement here.
Politics always sneaks in through the window. The business manager said it bluntly: political calendars must be considered, especially when control of the US Congress is at stake.
His final wish sums up everyone’s hope: that the review will be “comprehensive and immediate” and send “a message that… it was successful.”
Meanwhile, Ebrard bears the responsibility alone towards the Americans. A two-voice dialogue where each word weighs like lead.
