Mexico’s top negotiator for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Luz María de la Mora, has resigned from the Undersecretary of Economy, amid a dispute with the United States and Canada on energy policy – the Mexican government said this Friday (14 ).

In a statement, the Ministry of Economy informed that the new Undersecretary for Foreign Trade is Alejandro Encinas Nájera. He then conducts negotiations with the USMCA’s trading partners.

The new undersecretary is a political scientist who has previously been responsible for “negotiating disputes under the USMCA’s Labor Rapid Response Mechanism” that were “resolved through negotiation and agreement, without having need for arbitration commissions or advertisements of sanctions,” the note adds. .

Prior to the ministry’s announcement, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had already confirmed De la Mora’s departure as part of a series of changes in that portfolio.

In a press conference, the president explained that the departure of De la Mora had been decided by Raquel Buenrostro, appointed by the president to the post of secretary for the economy after the resignation of Tatiana Clouthier on October 6.

The Mexican press interpreted these changes as a “hardening” of Mexico’s position in the dispute with its partners in the American trade agreement, which the president denies.

López Obrador assured that the United States would have already decided not to go before a panel in the context of the controversy presented last July by its trading partners.

“When we thought there would be consultation conflicts on energy issues, we informed, we clarified (…), and they decided not to take the step towards a panel and if they seek an agreement does not mean confronting each other,” he added.

Mexico is holding consultations with the United States and Canada to resolve the controversy generated by the reforms with which López Obrador seeks to limit foreign participation in the national energy sector.

The governments of the United States and Canada consider that these measures favor the Federal Electricity Commission of the Mexican state, to the detriment of private companies. In this sense, they allege that this situation would violate USMCA rules.

In the absence of an agreement during the consultation phase between the three partners, an arbitration panel will be convened.

López Obrador ruled out that this dispute could lead to Mexico’s withdrawal from the USMCA, but considers the United States’ grievances to be unjustified.

The president seeks to restore state control over the electricity sector, through parliamentary reforms, now limited to secondary rules, having failed to obtain the votes necessary to modify the Constitution.

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© Agence France-Presse