Re “Trade deal must include sewage fix” (July 5): This commentary appropriately highlights the need for the U.S. and Mexico to commit to finding a long-term solution to the Tijuana River crisis but includes a factual inaccuracy that warrants correction. Contrary to what was claimed, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) does, in fact, include environmental enforcement provisions. Unlike NAFTA, where environmental matters were covered under a side agreement, the USMCA’s environmental chapter has teeth that includes potential trade sanctions “if a party fails to enforce its environmental laws.”
What has been lacking by the U.S. is the political will to apply those enforcement provisions against Mexico in the case of the Tijuana River. That said, the U.S. decision to not extend the USMCA in its current form does provide an opportunity to strengthen binational commitments vis-à-vis the Tijuana River along with another severely polluted transboundary waterway in our region, the New River.
— Richard Kiy, Escondido