LatinNews Daily - 13 June 2023

* US Trade Representative Katherine Tai has announced that the US has asked Mexico to review whether workers at an Industrias del Interior (Inisa) garment factory in Aguascalientes state are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. A statement from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) noted that this is the 10^th time that the US has formally invoked the Rapid Response Labour Mechanism (RRM) in the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement (USMCA), and the first time that it has done so in the garment sector. Tai said that the request for a review underlines the US government’s “commitment to using the Rapid Response Labour Mechanism to safeguard the rights of workers and the promises enshrined in the USMCA” and said that “we look forward to working closely with the government of Mexico to address the issues present in this case”. The US decision to trigger the RRM was made in response to allegations that Inisa is “committing acts of employer interference by coercing workers to accept the company’s proposed collective bargaining agreement revisions and intervening in the union’s internal affairs,” according to the USTR.