US files 1st USMCA environment case on Mexico over porpoise
By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office has filed the first environmental complaint against Mexico for failing to protect the critically endangered vaquita marina, the world’s smallest porpoise. The office said Thursday it had asked for “environment consultations” with Mexico, the first such case it has filed under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade pact. Consultations are the first step in the dispute resolution process under the agreement, which came into force in 2020. Mexico’s government has largely abandoned attempts to enforce a fishing-free zone around an area where the last few vaquitas are believed to live. Nets set illegally for another fish, the totoaba, drown vaquitas.