Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico Lecciones de Mexico: Impactos Ambientales y Sociales del TLC Lessons from Mexico: Environmental and Social Impacts of NAFTA in Mexico Moderator, Cyrus Reed Texas Center for Policy Studies Cr@texascenter.org www.texascenter.org 12/6/2018 Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico

Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico Panelists Miguel Angel Torres, PECE, Aguascalientes Maquiladora and Export-Led Development in Aguascalientes Tim Wise, GDAE Corn and Coffee Farmers Javier Balderas Infrastructure development and resistance in Oaxaca and Beyond Alejandro Villamar Human Rights and the Environment: Peasant Ecologists of Guerrero 12/6/2018 Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico

Location of Free Trade Case Studies 12/6/2018 Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico

Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico Overview/Sumario Lessons from Case Studies Conclusion: Growth Overwhelms Its Own Benefits/Crecimiento socava sus propios beneficios; Growth is not distributed equitably/el crecimiento no es equitativo Trade Readiness: NAFTA Institutions a Small, but Needed Step Forward People in Mexico have not stood idly by, but reacted/La gente de Mexico se han reaccionado 12/6/2018 Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico

Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico Fact: Maquiladoras Plants, Employment and Values Have Increased, Particularly in Interior 12/6/2018 Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico

Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico Fact: Authorized Hazardous Waste Management Facilities Have Increased since NAFTA 12/6/2018 Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico

Lessons from TCPS Case Studies Difficulty in obtaining access to basic information Changing economic and legal framework makes it difficult to control or guide their own development– Some benefits locally but also negative impacts, Economic changes spurred by export-led development have undermined local markets and alternative development strategies NAFTA has produced winners and losers in Mexico, as any economic agreement would Chapter 11 investor rights has already impacted environmental enforcement and regulations in Mexico Civil society, however, has not stood idly by, but sought to enact change, from an alternative PPP, to a new state emissions registry in Aguascalientes to demands for more information about hazardous waste facilities Public Participation, access to information, appropriate environmental/labor standards, and ability to control local markets/regulations, need to be considered along with investor rights and tariff reductions 12/6/2018 Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico

Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico Basic Problems The Asymmetries of Trade Should have been dealt with up front U.S. vs. Mexican economy Capacity to assess investment proposals Capacity to recapture part of investment for infrastructure, growth mitigation Issue of farm subsidies Labor – US Economy has imported Mexican Labor where foreign investment has not –has not been addressed Let countries help their local industry, farmers IF local farmers are “inefficient” is the only alternative to let them starve? Once they sell off land, that option goes… Export-led, foreign-investor development leads to growth, though not equitably, and some economic benefits, but no mechanism to deal with impacts of growth..degradation, natural resource exploitation, worker squatter communities, hazardous waste, etc. 12/6/2018 Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico

NAFTA Positives: Creation of New Institutions Labor/Community/Latino/Enviro groups made the US/Mexico border a high priority To get a couple border votes, two new institutions were created – BECC and NADBANK BECC– Assess and certify environmental infrastructure projects along the border NADBANK – Fund the projects and also fund community adjustment assistance program 12/6/2018 Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico

North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation Assessing and attempting to develop a more common toxic release inventory; Sound management of chemicals Program – Lindane, Chlordane, Mercury, etc. An attempt to hazardous waste regulations Creation of an Article 14, 15 – Citizen Complaint Petition Process against governments for not enforcing environmental laws 12/6/2018 Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico

My questions to panelists What have the social and environmental impacts of NAFTA-led Growth in Mexico (Cuales han sido los impactos del TLC en Mexico?) How have people reacted to these impacts/what actions have they taken? Como han reaccionado la gente ante estos impactos? 12/6/2018 Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico

For More Information/ Para Mas Informacion Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts Un (ase.tufts.edu/gdae) RMALC-Red Mexicana de Accion Frente el Libre Comercio (www.rmalc.org.mx) Information on S. Mexico/C.America resistance www.mesoamericaresiste.org Texas Center for Policy Studies www.texascenter.org 12/6/2018 Toward Sustainable Trade in the Americas? Lessons from Mexico