After the initial euphoria had subsided,&nbsp;Mexican&nbsp;business leaders emerged bruised and resigned to a new stricter&nbsp;trade&nbsp;deal&nbsp;with the United States and Canada that could usher in more intrusive enforcement of labor rules in Mexico.

Moises Kalach, a leader of the CCE business lobby, which represented Mexico's private sector in the negotiation of the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/usmca-united-states-mexico-and-canada-finalize-new-trade-agreement-267552">US-Mexico-Canada Agreement </a>(USMCA) that will replace the 1994 North American Free&nbsp;Trade&nbsp;Agreement (NAFTA), said that&nbsp;businesses&nbsp;felt sidelined.

"We would have liked to have been (in the negotiations) more to give our opinion more. This is the reality, we participated but not as much as we would have liked," said Kalach.

USMCA&nbsp;was signed more than a year ago to replace NAFTA, but Democrats controlling the US&nbsp;House of Representatives insisted on major changes to labor and environmental enforcement before bringing it to a vote.

In an unusual display of bipartisan and cross-border cooperation in the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/opinion-in-the-trump-era-the-eu-needs-to-rethink-its-approach-to-liberal-order-160809">Trump era</a> of global&nbsp;trade&nbsp;conflicts, top officials from Canada, Mexico, and the United States on Tuesday signed a fresh overhaul of the quarter-century-old&nbsp;trade&nbsp;pact.

Some&nbsp;Mexican&nbsp;business groups bemoaned a lack of&nbsp;clarity&nbsp;and conflicting information on how the rules would actually be enforced under the&nbsp;deal, the text of which has not been made public.

Gustavo Hoyos, president of employers federation Coparmex and a vocal critic of President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/morales-victim-of-coup-mexican-president-amlo-265630">Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador,</a> said: "up to now virtually no one but government officials have seen the&nbsp;deal's fine print". He called the government "a bad negotiator."

Others were more positive.

"There were many things we would have liked to have seen but in general we can say this&nbsp;deal&nbsp;is very beneficial for Mexico, it will bring investment to the country and I have no doubt will make the North American region more competitive," said Antonio del Valle, head of the&nbsp;Mexican&nbsp;Business Council.

The&nbsp;deal&nbsp;included a new mechanism under which the United States and Canada can create panels of labor experts to investigate union complaints at&nbsp;Mexican&nbsp;factories.

The experts&nbsp;will be able to penalize goods and services exported from that plant if violations of the freedom to organize or collectively bargain are detected, Canada and the US&nbsp;House Ways and Means Committee said.

Mexico's chief negotiator Jesus Seade sought to play down&nbsp;the impact of such "rapid panels," saying he had fended off US&nbsp;union demands to place foreign labor inspectors in&nbsp;Mexican&nbsp;factories.

The rapid panels would be formed after three months and only in response to repeated complaints and they would be selected from a roster of experts, including one from each country involved in the dispute and one chosen by a third party, Seade said.

The&nbsp;Mexican&nbsp;official denied there would be anything like foreign labor inspectors in <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/its-business-as-usual-at-mexicos-southern-border-despite-trump-deal-225581">Mexico</a>.

Canada said that, under the new&nbsp;deal, the burden of proof has been reversed, in that failure to comply with an obligation in the chapter is now presumed to be "in a manner affecting&nbsp;trade&nbsp;or investment between the parties," unless the defending party can demonstrate otherwise.

"If I'm reading this correctly now the country defending itself is guilty until proven otherwise," said a former senior&nbsp;Mexican&nbsp;USMCA&nbsp;negotiator.

"This can become an incentive to block&nbsp;trade&nbsp;you just gave the US&nbsp;an instrument to impose tariffs and close markets because it is going to be accusing you of not complying with your labor standards."

Duncan Wood, director of the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute in Washington, said: "that while the word 'inspections' has been avoided, 'facility-based enforcement' and in-country 'labor attaches' will raise the specter of foreign interference for some in Mexico."

&nbsp;

After the initial euphoria had subsided, Mexican business leaders emerged bruised and resigned to a new stricter trade deal with the United States and Canada that could usher in more intrusive enforcement of labor rules in Mexico.

After the initial euphoria had subsided, Mexican business leaders emerged bruised and resigned to a new stricter trade deal with the United States and Canada that could usher in more intrusive enforcement of labor rules in Mexico. Moises Kalach, a leader of the CCE business lobby, which represented Mexico's private sector in the negotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that will replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), said that businesses felt sidelined. "We would have liked to have been (in the negotiations) more to give our opinion more. This is the reality, we participated but not as much as we would have liked," said Kalach. USMCA was signed more than a year ago to replace NAFTA, but Democrats controlling the US House of Representatives insisted on major changes to labor and environmental enforcement before bringing it to a vote. In an unusual display of bipartisan and cross-border cooperation in the Trump era of global trade conflicts, top officials from Canada, Mexico, and the United States on Tuesday signed a fresh overhaul of the quarter-century-old trade pact. Some Mexican business groups bemoaned a lack of clarity and conflicting information on how the rules would actually be enforced under the deal, the text of which has not been made public. Gustavo Hoyos, president of employers federation Coparmex and a vocal critic of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said: "up to now virtually no one but government officials have seen the deal's fine print". He called the government "a bad negotiator." Others were more positive. "There were many things we would have liked to have seen but in general we can say this deal is very beneficial for Mexico, it will bring investment to the country and I have no doubt will make the North American region more competitive," said Antonio del Valle, head of the Mexican Business Council. The deal included a new mechanism under which the United States and Canada can create panels of labor experts to investigate union complaints at Mexican factories. The experts will be able to penalize goods and services exported from that plant if violations of the freedom to organize or collectively bargain are detected, Canada and the US House Ways and Means Committee said. Mexico's chief negotiator Jesus Seade sought to play down the impact of such "rapid panels," saying he had fended off US union demands to place foreign labor inspectors in Mexican factories. The rapid panels would be formed after three months and only in response to repeated complaints and they would be selected from a roster of experts, including one from each country involved in the dispute and one chosen by a third party, Seade said. The Mexican official denied there would be anything like foreign labor inspectors in Mexico. Canada said that, under the new deal, the burden of proof has been reversed, in that failure to comply with an obligation in the chapter is now presumed to be "in a manner affecting trade or investment between the parties," unless the defending party can demonstrate otherwise. "If I'm reading this correctly now the country defending itself is guilty until proven otherwise," said a former senior Mexican USMCA negotiator. "This can become an incentive to block trade you just gave the US an instrument to impose tariffs and close markets because it is going to be accusing you of not complying with your labor standards." Duncan Wood, director of the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute in Washington, said: "that while the word 'inspections' has been avoided, 'facility-based enforcement' and in-country 'labor attaches' will raise the specter of foreign interference for some in Mexico."

Mexican businesses want clarity on details of USMCA trade deal

People&nbsp;held&nbsp;in&nbsp;camps&nbsp;in&nbsp;China's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions/for-turkey-xinjiang-visit-amounts-to-a-risky-gamble-234168">Xinjiang</a>&nbsp;region&nbsp;have&nbsp;now "graduated" and new trainees will&nbsp;have&nbsp;the freedom to come and go, the regional governor said on Monday.

Governor Shohrat Zakir also hit out at Western criticism of the&nbsp;camps&nbsp;and said the United States had launched a smear campaign against&nbsp;Xinjiang.

The United Nations and human rights groups&nbsp;estimate that between 1 million and 2 million&nbsp;people, mostly ethnic <a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-world-calls-out-china-on-mass-detention-of-uighur-muslims-206630">Uighur Muslims</a>,&nbsp;have&nbsp;been detained in harsh conditions as part of what Beijing calls an anti-terrorism campaign.

China&nbsp;has repeatedly denied any mistreatment of Uighurs&nbsp;and&nbsp;says&nbsp;the&nbsp;camps&nbsp;provide vocational training. It describes detainees as students.

"At present, the trainees who&nbsp;have&nbsp;participated have&nbsp;all graduated," Zakir told a news conference in Beijing. "With the help of the government, stable employment has been achieved and their quality of life has been improved."

Xinjiang&nbsp;will continue with training based on "independent will" and "the freedom to come and go", he said.

China&nbsp;has not provided any official figures on how many&nbsp;people&nbsp;have&nbsp;been&nbsp;held&nbsp;in the&nbsp;camps&nbsp;but Zakhir said foreign estimates were "pure fabrication". He gave no details.

He also called a measure passed by the&nbsp;US&nbsp;House of Representatives that condemned&nbsp;China's treatment of the Uighur minority a severe violation of international law and a gross interference in&nbsp;China's internal affairs.

"The&nbsp;US&nbsp;is getting restless and has launched a smear campaign against&nbsp;Xinjiang," Zakir said. "But no force can stop&nbsp;Xinjiang's progress toward stability and development."

Claims about the&nbsp;camps&nbsp;are hard to verify as&nbsp;China&nbsp;only allows periodic supervised visits and gives little information on their operations.

Watch: China slams US bill on Uighur Muslims

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/china-slams-us-bill-on-uighur-muslims-266287/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

In July, a&nbsp;Xinjiang&nbsp;official said most&nbsp;people&nbsp;had returned to society from the&nbsp;camps. Asked on Monday how many&nbsp;people&nbsp;had completed the training, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she could not give an exact number.

"Because the number of&nbsp;people&nbsp;participating in these training centers is dynamic, there's coming and going, so it's very difficult to give an exact number," Hua told reporters at a separate briefing.

Human rights groups&nbsp;and former detainees&nbsp;have&nbsp;said conditions in the&nbsp;camps&nbsp;are poor, with inmates subject to psychological and physical abuse.

At Zakir's news conference, images of past violence were displayed in excerpts from an English-language documentary, "Fighting Terrorism in&nbsp;Xinjiang" aired on state broadcaster CGTN last week.

Hua expressed disappointment at the lack of foreign media coverage of the documentary despite the intense concern over the&nbsp;Xinjiang&nbsp;issue.

She said there had been no terrorist attack in&nbsp;Xinjiang&nbsp;in the past three years due to the success of the&nbsp;camps.

The&nbsp;US&nbsp;Uighur Act passed by the House of Representatives last week requires the&nbsp;US&nbsp;president to condemn abuses against Muslims and calls for the closure of the&nbsp;camps&nbsp;in&nbsp;Xinjiang.

It also calls on President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions/saudi-arabia-policy-shift-a-rare-donald-trumps-foreign-policy-success-252387">Donald Trump</a> to impose sanctions on a member of&nbsp;China's powerful politburo,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-bill-on-chinas-xinjiang-violates-international-law-regional-official-says-267068">Xinjiang&nbsp;Communist Party </a>Secretary Chen Quanguo.

The issue, along with Washington's support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, complicates prospects for a near-term deal to end a 17-month long trade war between&nbsp;China&nbsp;and the United States.

People held in camps in China's Xinjiang region have now "graduated" and new trainees will have the freedom to come and go, the regional governor said on Monday.

People held in camps in China's Xinjiang region have now "graduated" and new trainees will have the freedom to come and go, the regional governor said on Monday. Governor Shohrat Zakir also hit out at Western criticism of the camps and said the United States had launched a smear campaign against Xinjiang. The United Nations and human rights groups estimate that between 1 million and 2 million people, mostly ethnic Uighur Muslims, have been detained in harsh conditions as part of what Beijing calls an anti-terrorism campaign. China has repeatedly denied any mistreatment of Uighurs and says the camps provide vocational training. It describes detainees as students. "At present, the trainees who have participated have all graduated," Zakir told a news conference in Beijing. "With the help of the government, stable employment has been achieved and their quality of life has been improved." Xinjiang will continue with training based on "independent will" and "the freedom to come and go", he said. China has not provided any official figures on how many people have been held in the camps but Zakhir said foreign estimates were "pure fabrication". He gave no details. He also called a measure passed by the US House of Representatives that condemned China's treatment of the Uighur minority a severe violation of international law and a gross interference in China's internal affairs. "The US is getting restless and has launched a smear campaign against Xinjiang," Zakir said. "But no force can stop Xinjiang's progress toward stability and development." Claims about the camps are hard to verify as China only allows periodic supervised visits and gives little information on their operations. Watch: China slams US bill on Uighur Muslims In July, a Xinjiang official said most people had returned to society from the camps. Asked on Monday how many people had completed the training, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she could not give an exact number. "Because the number of people participating in these training centers is dynamic, there's coming and going, so it's very difficult to give an exact number," Hua told reporters at a separate briefing. Human rights groups and former detainees have said conditions in the camps are poor, with inmates subject to psychological and physical abuse. At Zakir's news conference, images of past violence were displayed in excerpts from an English-language documentary, "Fighting Terrorism in Xinjiang" aired on state broadcaster CGTN last week. Hua expressed disappointment at the lack of foreign media coverage of the documentary despite the intense concern over the Xinjiang issue. She said there had been no terrorist attack in Xinjiang in the past three years due to the success of the camps. The US Uighur Act passed by the House of Representatives last week requires the US president to condemn abuses against Muslims and calls for the closure of the camps in Xinjiang. It also calls on President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on a member of China's powerful politburo, Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo. The issue, along with Washington's support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, complicates prospects for a near-term deal to end a 17-month long trade war between China and the United States.

China says people held in Xinjiang camps have 'graduated', condemns US bill

Pelosi, Democrats celebrate taking back the House, promise to seek unity