OPINION By TOM LONG Part of an ongoing series from the Wilson Center* Even as images of a “flat” world and effortless global connections gained popularity during the 1990s, regional relationships played a central role in structuring the world’s economic, social and political landscape. The proliferation of regional agreements, organizations and summits in Asia, Africa and Europe responded to the opportunities
Read more
OPINION By ALAN BERSIN Part of an ongoing series from the Wilson Center* Catalyzed by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the 1990s, North America emerged as a reality before Robert Pastor articulated “The North American Idea” in his widely read book. While centered in Mexico, Canada and the United States, however, the North American region should ultimately reach
Read more
OPINION By MATTHEW ROONEY Part of an ongoing series from the Wilson Center* America’s engagement in international trade and global manufacturing supply chains is the cornerstone of the power and prosperity of the United States. The rising chorus of voices arguing that a “go-it-alone” industrial policy will make the United States more secure and more prosperous have misunderstood this simple fact.
Read more
OPINION By ÁLVARO SANTOS Part of an ongoing series from the Wilson Center* The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was born from a threat and a promise. The threat was to eliminate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) altogether despite the huge regional market it helped create. The promise was to make that market more beneficial to the United States, and,
Read more
By EARL ANTHONY WAYNE, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico
Read more
OPINION By ANTONIO ORTIZ-MENA Part of an ongoing series from the Wilson Center* It is striking that, more than a quarter century after the North American Free Trade Agreement’s (NAFTA) entry into force, it is still necessary to provide a business case for deeper North American cooperation on economics and beyond, but that is where we are. After the 1989 Canada-U.S.
Read more
OPINION By GOLDY HYDER Part of an ongoing series from the Wilson Center* Just like the covid-19 virus, the devastating effects of climate change know no borders. Flooding, forest fires and other extreme weather-related natural disasters are now regularly wreaking havoc on communities across North America. The costs of these catastrophes are measured not only in dollars and pesos, but in
Read more
OPINION By IÑIGO FERNÁNDEZ BAPTISTA Part of an ongoing series from the Wilson Center* In 2006 — more than 16 years ago — in the midst of the bird flu, Jeffrey Staples published an article in Harvard Business Review stating that a pandemic could become the single greatest threat to business continuity. That prediction took solid form with the covid-19 pandemic
Read more
XINHUA Consumer spending and gross fixed investment in Mexico plummeted in 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic, figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) indicated on Friday, March 5. Consumer spending fell 11 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, while gross fixed investment plunged 18.2 percent last year, according to two separate Inegi reports. In the area
Read more
XINHUA Consumer confidence in Mexico declined in November compared to the previous month after five months of increase, dragged down by greater pessimism about the economy and the covid-19 pandemic, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) said Friday, Dec. 4. The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) stood at 36.7 units in November, one point lower than in October and
Read more