The Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute has released a series of new essays covering a range of important bilateral issues. We kick off our companion video series, “Charting a New Course,” with a focus on economic interdependence. Mexico Institute Deputy Director, Chris Wilson provides an overview of the scope and depth of U.S.-Mexico economic cooperation and also talks about what can be done to make the alliance stronger. That’s the focus of this edition of Wilson Center NOW.
Tag: trade
America Can Compete Successfully
1/23/2017 Medium
By Earl Anthony Wayne, Public Policy Fellow & Advisory Board Member, Mexico Institute
Much national debate over the last year has been about how the United States, its companies and its workers can compete successfully in the world. The theme was clear in President Trump’s inaugural speech. And, most observers agree that America has what it takes to succeed, but it needs to deploy an array of improved policies and tools to face global competition. We must draw on the best ideas from across the political spectrum and agree on a comprehensive strategy.
Some seek to push ahead aggressively on select reforms without trying to build a broader coalition. Yet there is clear potential for President Trump and his allies to forge wider agreement around an ambitious agenda for making the United States more competitive globally. Agreements that cross party lines would make it more likely that the programs America needs to excel in global markets are enacted, funded and well implemented.
Nearly 5 Million U.S. Jobs Depend on Trade With Mexico
12/9/12 The Atlantic
When President-elect Trump talks about scrapping the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), his argument rests on the notion that the agreement is one of the main culprits of job loss in the states. American companies, critics argue, have used NAFTA to send manufacturing jobs to Mexico—where labor is cheaper—leaving domestic workers unemployed. It’s true that companies have been enticed to send jobs abroad—but often this argument misses the fact that as some American firms moved work across the border, there’s also been reciprocity. Now, millions of American jobs are dependent on trade with Mexico, and Mexican corporations have created thousands of jobs in the U.S. New research from the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., found that trade with Mexico creates approximately 4.9 million jobs in the United States.
Mexico and U.S. executives to share data to make case for free trade
12/8/2016 Reuters
Mexican and U.S. business leaders will share information on cross-border economic integration as they seek to build a case for free trade under the government of President-elect Donald Trump, a top industry group said on Wednesday.
Trump has threatened to renegotiate or withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), prompting concern in Mexico about the future of the economy, trade and foreign investment.
Mexico Overtakes Canada as No. 2 U.S. Exporter Ahead of Trump
6/12/16 Bloomberg
Mexico is overtaking Canada as the No. 2 exporter of goods to the U.S. this year, in a sign of how economic ties have deepened between the two countries even as the relationship is being questioned by President-elect Donald Trump.
Shipments from Mexico totaled $245 billion in the first 10 months of the year, according to Commerce Department figures released Tuesday, ahead of Canada’s $230 billion. If the trend continues, it would be the first time ever the U.S. bought more imports from its neighbor to the south. The two countries ended 2015 tied in exports to the U.S.
Giant Aluminum Stockpile Was Shipped From Mexico to Vietnam
Wall Street Journal 12/1/2016
VUNG TAU, Vietnam—One of the world’s largest aluminum stockpiles, which until a few months ago was stored under hay and plastic tarp in a Mexican desert, has been moved to a remote port here in southern Vietnam.
Starting early this year, 500,000 metric tons of aluminum has been trucked out of the Mexican city of San José Iturbide and shipped to Vietnam, according to shipping records and people familiar with the matter. Much of it now sits under black tarps, guarded by baton-wielding men on motorcycles, at a factory and waterfront complex in this South China Sea port about a two-hour drive south of Ho Chi Minh City.
Can Oil Help Mexico Withstand Trump’s Attack on Trade? It’s Hard to See How
The New York Times 11/27/16
CIUDAD DEL CARMEN, Mexico — The town that oil built is emptying out. “For Sale” signs are plastered on concrete-block houses and sun-bleached bungalows alike. The idled oil workers who used to cluster in the main square, hoping to pick up odd jobs, have moved on. Here in Ciudad del Carmen, on the gulf coast of Mexico, even the ironclad union positions are slipping away. Some roughnecks on the offshore rigs of the national oil company, Pemex, have not worked in months, and their voices are filled with anxiety. “What do you think is going to happen?” some ask.
