How NAFTA Explains the Two Mexicos

09/23/2017 The Atlantic

On January 1, 1994, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, a group of indigenous rebels in Mexico, seized public buildings in towns and cities across Chiapas, the country’s poorest, southernmost state. On that day, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) had gone into effect, heralding a new era in economic integration and freedom of trade across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, eliminating tariffs among the countries and symbolizing a new post-Cold War consensus on free markets and trade. But for the Zapatistas, NAFTA represented the recolonization of their country, and they sought to give voice to their protest through armed struggle. The Mexican military put their uprising down swiftly, and the Zapatistas retreated into autonomously governed caracoles, or communes, where they live to this day, rejecting government aid and living largely on proceeds from San Cristóbal’s NGO-run tourist industry and wealthy supporters abroad.

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Tempers fray as search for survivors winds down after Mexico quake

Source: ABC News

09/21/2017 Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Tempers frayed in Mexico City on Friday as the search for survivors amidst twisted rubble of collapsed buildings began to wind down three days after the country’s most deadly earthquake in a generation.

The 7.1 magnitude quake leveled 52 buildings in the sprawling Mexican capital at lunchtime on Tuesday, leaving thousands homeless and close to 300 people dead. Apartment blocks, offices, a school and a textile factory were among the structures that were destroyed.

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U.S. Commerce chief: U.S. content falling in Mexican, Canadian imports

09/21/2017 Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday a new study by his department shows that U.S. value-added content is declining for manufactured goods imported from Mexico and Canada, arguing that this required tougher rules of origin in the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In a Washington Post opinion piece preview of the report to be released on Friday, Ross said the analysis of recently released OECD trade in value-added data shows a marked decline in U.S. content in automotive imports from Canada and Mexico from 1995 through 2011.

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Mexico quake leaves country’s historic churches battered

 

09/24/2017 The Washington Post

MEXICO CITY — Our Lady of Angels Church has survived several major earthquakes, but Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 shake proved to be the final death knell for the Mexico City building’s historic cupola.

Violent cracks crisscrossed the dome, and stone from the roof continued to fall onto the church’s wooden pews. On Sunday evening, the cupola split and half crashed to the floor.

“Each earthquake has left its mark,” said Marco Antonio Fuentes, part of the church’s ministry. “This one seems to be the straw that will break the camel’s back.

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Mexico rescue efforts obscured by backdrop of controversy

09/22/2017 Financial Times

First the bad news. Then the fake news?

Mexico suffered its most devastating earthquake in three decades on September 19, a date burnt into Mexicans’ brains as that of the “Big One” when a massive quake in 1985 flattened much of the city, toppled entire blocks, and killed at least 9,500.

This time, the devastation was mercifully more limited — the death toll, still rising, has hit 300 — but the pain was the same, especially in a country that suffered its strongest earthquake in a century only a fortnight ago. The government has been caught on the back foot in other crises, but not this time. It immediately sprang into action and was juggling the disaster response to two major earthquakes in as many weeks in central and southern parts of the country.

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Headlines

1. On September 19, 2017, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck southeast of Mexico City. At least 230 people have been killed in Mexico State, Puebla, Morelos, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Mexico City. Rescue and recovery efforts continue throughout the affected regions.

Read more: Reforma, Excelsior, El Universal, El Financiero, Milenio

2. On September 15, 2017, the body of nineteen year-old Mara Fernandez Castilla was in the state of Puebla. Ricardo Alexis Díaz, a driver for the ride-hailing service, Cabify, is the primary suspect in her murder. The government of Puebla rescinded Cabify’s operating license after confirming the infringement of security protocols. In a statement, Cabify announced the creation of an in-app panic button and the inclusion of emergency contact information to reinforce passenger safety.

Read more: El Financiero, Milenio, El Universal, Reforma, Proceso

3. United States Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, is uncertain whether the NAFTA renegotiations will conclude early next year. Mexico’s Economy Secretary, Ildefonso Guarjardo, highlights the complexity and opposing positions when addressing certain aspects of the trade agreement. The third round of negotiations will take place from September 23-27 in Ottawa, Canada.

Read more: El Financiero, Reforma, Excelsior, El Universal

4. Alfredo Del Mazo, governor of the State of Mexico, assures the implementation of public safety reforms within the three months of his tenure. The Mexican State Government’s creation of the Security, Justice, and Human Rights Secretariats along with the installation of 20,000 security cameras highlight the initial steps taken to reduce insecurity across the state.

Read more: El Financiero, Milenio, Reforma, Excelsior

 

 

 

Here’s the scariest part of NAFTA, according to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross

09/22/2017 CNBC

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Friday that autos and auto parts are a key area in overhauling the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.

The “scariest part” of NAFTA as it’s currently written is that autos and auto parts make up nearly all of the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico and Canada, Ross said on “Squawk Box.”

“Without that there would be a surplus,” he said.

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