Democrats Urge Trump Administration to Enforce USMCA Environmental Rules as Vaquita Nears Extinction

Washington, D.C.-One year after an independent investigation confirmed that Mexico is failing to enforce its own wildlife, fisheries, and trade laws, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) led 38 House Democrats in urging U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer to enforce USMCA environmental protections. They seek answers on Mexico's failure to meet its environmental obligations under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise, of which only ten are believed to remain.

The members state, "We write with concerns about enforcement of Mexico's environmental obligations under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and specifically Mexico's failure to enforce its own wildlife, fisheries, and trade laws in the Upper Gulf of California. A year has passed since the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) determined that the US complaint was meritorious. We would like to understand what the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has done since, and what it intends to do next."

The CEC report documents what the members call "a clear pattern of lax enforcement that undermines conservation laws and subsidizes unfair fishing practices." Although Mexico has banned gillnets in vaquita habitat since 2020, investigators found fishermen continuing to use the illegal gear at the same rate. Of the 850 satellite trackers Mexico agreed to install on Upper Gulf vessels by 2023, only ten had been installed by last year.

The members ask USTR whether the environment consultations opened with Mexico in 2022 remain active, how USTR has used the August 2025 report to press Mexico to shut down illegal gillnet fishing and totoaba trafficking, and when USTR will escalate the matter to a dispute panel and pursue penalties. The members request a written response and a staff briefing within 30 days.

The letter follows the effort Rep. Doggett led in November 2025, with House Democrats urging Ambassador Greer to significantly strengthen Chapter 24, the USMCA's environment chapter, in the mandatory six-year review of the agreement. As the members write here, their intent is "to build a clear record of what the existing mechanisms under USMCA have and have not produced, to better inform efforts to strengthen the USMCA."

The full letter can be read here.

###