The United States has urged the Mexican president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, that the judicial reform that the Congress of the neighboring country will address respects the foreign investments provided for in the North American Free Trade Agreement, the USMCA. “We will continue to insist that whatever the future legal regime in Mexico, all signatories of the USMCA abide by the provisions for the protection of foreign investment,” declared this Wednesday the US Undersecretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Brian Nichols.
Nichols was thus responding to a question in this regard during an appearance before the Foreign Relations Committee of the US House of Representatives on the rivalry between powers in Latin America. Mexico, the senior official explained, is a sovereign country that, therefore, can undertake a reform of its legal framework as and when it deems necessary. But “judicial transparency is vital” to maintain the confidence of national and foreign investors, but especially among the Canadian and American partners of the TMEC, he stressed, about the changes promoted by the outgoing president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and supported by his successor.
López Obrador hopes that the controversial reform will be approved in September, once the new Mexican Congress has been formed after elections that gave an overwhelming victory to the ruling party, Morena. Among other things, the project provides that Supreme Court judges will be appointed by popular vote. The first would be held in July of next year to elect more than 1,600 positions in the judiciary.
In addition, the plan also proposes withdrawing the lifetime pension from the ministers of the Supreme Court and creating a Judicial Disciplinary Court. It would also reduce the members of the Court from the current eleven to nine.
Sheinbaum, winner of the elections held 10 days ago in Mexico, plans to be sworn in on October 1. The one who will be the first female head of state in the North American country supports the project promoted by her predecessor, but has also requested that a “broad discussion” be held in which judges, law schools and bar associations participate on one of the great controversies that await him during the transition process and at the beginning of his mandate.
Arizona Congressman Greg Stanton raised the relocation of supply chains, the nearshoring, to North America, and what implications in this sense will Sheinbaum’s inauguration have. “The president-elect is a scientist (by training). “She collaborated with the US Department of Energy… showing you with facts how important this matter is will be convincing,” considered the person responsible for US policy for Latin America.
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