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Chapter Reference: Neoliberalism
A look at the North America Free Trade agreement is a way of understanding globalization in Mexico. During the 1990s especially, tariff reduction (often referred to as apertura, or "opening") was a basic goal on the neoliberal agenda in Latin America. NAFTA, as a specific and limited instance of economic opening within a regional framework, offers the chance to observe the detailed impacts of globalization. A paper on NAFTA should briefly discuss the basic provisions of the agreement for the elimination of tariffs between Mexico, Canada, and the United States. It should also carefully consider the empirical evidence concerning the practical outcome of NAFTA. Globalization is not, as is sometimes suggested, the irresistible and inevitably positive shape of things to come. It has great potential for both good and ill, often at the same time. Sorting out the good from the ill, and weighing them against each other, requires considerable information, analytical clarity, and objectivity. Careful consideration of these matters is essential, because an expansion of such arrangements to the rest of Latin America is now under consideration: CAFTA for Central America and FTAA for the entire hemisphere.
Questions for Analysis and Further Reflection:
- What have been the salient impacts of NAFTA in Mexico and the United States? How do they differ from initial predictions? Can you see effects of NAFTA in your daily life? Can Mexicans see it in theirs?
- Opposition to NAFTA exists on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, though for different motivations. What are some of the defining issues opponents rally around, and how do these differ from one side of the border to the other?
- Are these same concerns present in debates surrounding other proposed regional free trade areas?
Bibliography: (Titles with ** are good starting places.)
Bacon, David. The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2004.
** Hellman, Judith. Mexican Lives. New York: New Press, 1994.
Mexico's economic opening from the perspective of Mexicans of various walks of life.
Other Resources:
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