(September 13, 2007) The solution to maximizing economic success between Mexico and the United States is building on the success of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), said His Excellency Arturo Sarukhan, Mexican Ambassador to the United States, at a California Chamber of Commerce international luncheon forum yesterday.
Among the 75 guests were government officials and businesspeople from California, including Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, and representatives from agriculture, manufacturing, technology and international relations.
Ambassador Sarukhan emphasized the unique relationship between the two countries, noting that “there are few relationships as strategic in nature as the relationship between Mexico and the United States.”
The ambassador lauded the success of NAFTA, and said it is time to build upon that success.
“As a result of NAFTA, trade from Mexico to the United States tripled in 10 years.” Sarukhan said. “Now we are the third-largest trading partner of the United States, and that speaks volumes about some of the challenges that we face as we compete with India and China and others on the world stage.” He said Mexico has become the largest market for California exports.
He also credited NAFTA with the resurgence of a middle class sector in Mexico, a piece of the economy he said had been missing since the 1970s. “I think the fact that Mexico has had the ability to sustain macroeconomic stability, and for the first time re-create an urban, suburban, middle class, middle income sector, is one of the largest success stories of NAFTA.”
The free trade agreement made Mexico a much more open country to the world, Sarukhan said. “It forced us to anchor Mexico in a much larger world and that was the best symbol of how NAFTA has made these two countries, whether we like it or not, to become joined at the hip.”
 |
| His Excellency Arturo Sarukhan, Mexican Ambassador to the United States |
NAFTA also led to the economic achievements of the avocado industry, Sarukhan said. He said that avocados are one of the huge success stories of economic growth and job creation in Mexico, as well as of the opportunities that the free trade agreement opened up for the agricultural business in both countries to complement each other in its seasons and its produce.
“I think the solution is more NAFTA, not less NAFTA” Sarukhan said.
Sarukhan also identified labor mobility as a key issue between the two nations and as a way to deal with immigration.
“At the end of the day, comprehensive immigration reform in the United States will have to start in Mexico. We will have to prove that we have the ability to generate the well-paying jobs and economic growth so that 400,000 Mexicans a year do not have to cross the border in search of a better life.”
He said Mexico could not plot out a route to economic prosperity if it loses much of its talented workforce to the United States. Sarukhan said the Mexican demographic was changing dramatically, and in coming decades, “there simply won’t be enough Mexicans to pump the Mexican economy and at the same time to cross the borders and help the vineyards and the orchards of America.”
The CalChamber, in keeping with long-standing policy, enthusiastically supports free trade worldwide, expansion of international trade and investment, fair and equitable market access for California products abroad and elimination of disincentives that impede the international competitiveness of California business.
Staff Contact: Susanne Stirling