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
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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
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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.
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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,
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By EARL ANTHONY WAYNE, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico
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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.
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By MARK LORENZANA Mexico’s Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) prevented Spanish energy company Iberdrola from operating a wind farm in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato. Iberdrola had invested a total of $150 million in the wind farm. According to the CRE, its decision to stop the wind farm’s operations stemmed from a breach in permit that originally allowed Iberdrola to
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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
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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
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OPINION By CARLOS PASCUAL Part of an ongoing series from the Wilson Center* General Motors stated in November 2021, just seven months after announcing plans to invest $1 billion in electric vehicle production in Mexico, that “Mexico won’t be a destination for foreign investment” unless it provides a solid legal basis to “meet our objective of having zero emissions in the
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