LA JOLLA — Mexico’s recent fiscal and energy reforms, new trade agreements and an evolving manufacturing sector are among the factors that are driving a deep economic transformation in the country, participants in a conference at UC San Diego said Thursday.
Entitled “Twenty Years of NAFTA and Beyond,” the event brought together scholars, government officials, business leaders and artists to consider where Mexico is heading two decades after the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada.
“NAFTA was never thought of as something static,” said Mexican soft drink manufacturer Juan Gallardo, who was named this year to the Forbes billionaires list. “It was thought of something as a work in progress.” Under NAFTA, he said, “we went from being a country where things were assembled to a country where things are manufactured.”
But the treaty also disappointed some expectations. “NAFTA hasn’t had the power that some people expected to alleviate poverty,” said Carlos Elizondo, a professor at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, a think thank in Mexico City. “NAFTA hasn’t been the disaster that its critics have claimed, but it hasn’t been the panacea,” its supporters touted, he said.
Bilateral trade between the United States and Mexico has increased dramatically since the treaty’s signing — from $80 billion to $500 billion annually, said Antonio Ortiz Mena, head of economic affairs at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C. But “if we are to take North American competitiveness to the next level, we need to have a much stronger proactive engagement between the public and private sectors.”
The event was the third of a series of “Mexico Moving Forward” conferences held at the university since 2011. It was organized by the university through the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies of the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies.
Other speakers included Janet Napolitano, former Department of Homeland Security secretary and president of the University of California system; Arturo Sarukhan, former Mexican ambassador to the United States; Deborah Riner, chief economist at the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico; political analyst Denise Dresser; and cinematographer Ignacio Duran. A surprise performance by members of Tijuana's Opera Ambulante drew enthusiastic applause.
The participants discussed Mexico’s recent fiscal and energy reforms, the problems of persistent violence and economic inequality, opportunities for artists, the effect of new trade alliances, and efforts aimed at strengthening its relationship with the United States.
“You can’t engage with Mexico simply by looking at a particular set of economic questions, you need to look at the broader set of political, economic, and cultural issues going on in Mexico,” said Peter Cowhey. dean of UC San Diego’s School of International Relations and Pacific Studies.
sandra.dibble@utsandiego.com
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