Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T15:06:36.220Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Political Impact of Free Trade on Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Peter H. Smith*
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego

Extract

the rule of free trade, taken by itself, is no longer able to govern international relations … Freedom of trade is fair only if it is subject to the demands of social justice.

Pope Paul VIPopulorum Progressio

Current Debates over North American free trade focus almost exclusively on economic issues. Advocates claim that a trilateral agreement will provide impetus for sustained, long-term economic growth in Canada, Mexico, and the United States — and that it will provide a regional counterweight to the European Community (EC) and to Japan. Critics in the United States claim that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will encourage the export of US investment and employment to Mexico. Canadians fear accelerated debilitation of vulnerable sectors of the national economy, from natural gas to automobile parts. Skeptics in Mexico predict that NAFTA will perpetuate low wages for the Mexican working class and transform the entire country into a massive maquiladora.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aguilar Zinser, A. (1990) “US-Mexico Free Trade: Looking down the Road.” Los Angeles Times (30 September): M-2.Google Scholar
Aspe, R. (1992) “Economic Restructuring in Mexico.” Public Lecture delivered at University of California, San Diego, 17 January.Google Scholar
Baer, D. (1991) “North American Free Trade.” Foreign Affairs 70, 4 (Fall): 132149.Google Scholar
Camp, R. (1992 forthcoming) “Political Liberalization, the Last Key to Economic Modernization in Mexico?” in Roett, Riordan (ed.) The Politics of Economic Liberalization in Mexico. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Cardenas, C. (1991) “Free Trade Is Not Enough: The Politics of Salinastroika.” New Perspectives Quarterly 8, 1 (Winter): 2122.Google Scholar
Cardenas, C. (1990) “Misunderstanding Mexico.” Foreign Policy 78 (Spring): 113130.Google Scholar
Cornelius, W. (1991) “Mexican Elections: A Salinas Solution” (unpublished manuscript). [A shortened version of this article appeared in Hemisfile 2, 6 (November) under the title “Mexico's Mid-Term Elections: About Face, Forward March”].Google Scholar
Dresser, D. (1991a) Neopopulist Solutions to Neoliberal Problems: Mexico's National Solidarity Program. La Jolla, CA: University of California-San Diego, Center for US-Mexican Studies.Google Scholar
Dresser, D. (1991b) “The Three Faces of Salinas: Perspectives on Economic and Political Reform in Mexico.” Seminar presentation at Center for US-Mexican Studies, La Jolla (CA), March.Google Scholar
Gilly, A. (1991) “Mexico: la reestructuración en marcha.” Nueva Sociedad 113 (mayo-junio): 1015.Google Scholar
Journal of Commerce (1990) “Free Trade, Fair Votes.” (19 March): 8-A.Google Scholar
Los Angeles Times (1991) “Salinas’ Pork-Barrel Politics Revives PR] Primacy at Polls.” (22 October): H-2.Google Scholar
New Perspectives Quarterly (1991) “North American Free Trade: Mexico's Route to Upward Mobility.” Vol. 8, 1 (Winter): 8.Google Scholar
New York Times (1990) “For Mexico, Freedom Before Free Trade.” (1 April): E-19.Google Scholar
Proceso (1991a) “Cambios en política exterior, economía, trabajo y ecología, para complacer a Washington.” No. 759 (20 mayo): 616.Google Scholar
Proceso (1991b) “Conclusión de Negroponte: con el Tratado de Libre Comercio, México quedaría a disposición de Washington.” No. 758 (13 mayo): 611.Google Scholar
Sheahan, J. (1992) Conflict and Change in Mexican Economic Strategy: Implications for Mexico and for Latin America. La Jolla, CA University of California-San Diego, Center for US-Mexican Studies.Google Scholar
SourceMex (electronic newsletter) (1991a) “Free Trade Agreement Developments and Debate, September 2-14 ”. (18 September): 11-13. Albuquerque, NM: Latin American Data Base, University of New Mexico.Google Scholar
SourceMex (electronic newsletter) (1991b) “Chronology of Debate on Free Trade Accord, March 19-31” (3 April): 913. Albuquerque, NM: Latin American Data Base, University of New Mexico.Google Scholar
SourceMex (electronic newsletter) (1991c) “Chronology of Free Trade Accord Developments, February 20-March 19.” (27 February): 1115. Albuquerque, NM: Latin American Data Base, University of New Mexico.Google Scholar
SourceMex (electronic newsletter) (1990) “US-Mexico Free Trade Agreement Debate: Recent Expression of Opposition, Reservations.” (21 November): 7. Albuquerque, NM: Latin American Data Base, University of New Mexico.Google Scholar
Smith, P. (1991) “Crisis and Democracy in Latin America.” World Politics 43, 4 (July): 608634.Google Scholar
Smith, P. (1989) “The 1988 Presidential Succession in Historical Perspective,” pp. 391425 in Cornelius, Wayne A., Gendeman, Judith, and Smith, Peter H. (eds.) Mexico's Alternative Political Futures. La Jolla, CA: University of California-San Diego, Center for US-Mexican Studies.Google Scholar
Thorup, C. (1991) “México-EU: La democratización y la agenda bilateral.” Nexos 162 (junio): 5761.Google Scholar
(El) Universal (1991) “Voces disidentes en el foro senatorial de libre comercio.” (15 March): 1.Google Scholar
Wall Street Journal (1991) “The Historic Dimensions of Free Trade with Mexico.” (24 May): A-ll.Google Scholar
Weintraub, S. and M. BAER (1992) “The Interplay between Economic and Political Opening: The Sequence in Mexico.” Washington Quarterly (Spring): 187201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar