Congressman Greg Stanton and other lawmakers in Washington are asking U.S. trade officials to review the ramifications of a set of sweeping reforms Mexican officials are proposing to their country’s judicial system.
Mexico’s constitutional reform would require judges at all levels of government to go through an election process.
Outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says the move is needed to combat judicial corruption and hold judges accountable to voters. Critics — including U.S. officials — argue it would eliminate judicial independence and erode democracy.
Stanton says the changes could impact how international trade cases are litigated.
“This is a great time for growing the U.S.-Mexico trade relationship, and if these proposed judicial reforms move forward, it is clear that it would be a step in the wrong direction,” he said.
Stanton is one of almost a dozen lawmakers part of a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai asking whether the proposed reforms would violate trade agreements.
“We want to ask Secretary Blinken and our Trade Secretary Tai to look at the proposal to see whether it would create any chances in USMCA — the U.S.-Mexico Trade Agreement —and whether there would potentially be a violation,” he said.
The changes would impact all of Mexico’s roughly 7.000 judges.
In their letter to the officials this week, the lawmakers say the reforms would undermine investor confidence in Mexico’s legal framework.
