Mexico has a 3,152 km border with the largest economy in the world, which for left-wing fanatics is a curse, since they consider the US an exploitative, racist country that despises Mexicans. A similar perception was expressed by President Lopez Obrador when accusing President Biden of forgetting Latin America. Biden replied that the US is the country that invests the most and transfers money to countries south of its border.
There was no need for this confrontation, which perhaps satisfied the Mexican “anti-Yankee” left, but did nothing to improve relations with the neighbor, where 38.5 million people from Mexico live.
The objective of the meeting was to strengthen relations that would translate into a greater economic benefit for Mexico. For this, it was necessary to offer conditions similar to those that China gives to private companies in the Special Economic Zones, which have generated millions of jobs and lifted the majority of the Chinese population out of poverty, a country that exports more to the US than Mexico. From China, 11,640 kilometers away, come 19% of total US imports, from Mexico, a few meters away, less than 14%.
The US should increase its trade with Mexico, since it would reduce illegal migration of Mexicans and increase purchases by Mexicans in the US, who spend per capita more than the Chinese in the US.
Valuable time in the meeting was wasted accusing and reproaching the United States, instead of seeking a greater economic rapprochement that would benefit Mexico. President López Obrador’s advisers did not point him in the right direction, and he got into more political than economic discussions.
Biden is concerned about the increase in the shipment of drugs from Mexico to the US, including fentanyl, a poison, which caused 100,000 deaths in the neighboring country to the north. He seeks to improve relations and help Mexico to reduce migration to the US.
The Mexican government did not take advantage of the meeting to present legal stability conditions and tax reductions to attract greater investment from the US, to increase jobs in Mexico and consolidate exports to the US, which represent around 80% of total exports of Mexico.
The money that Mexican workers send to their relatives in Mexico, remittances, delay the devaluation of the peso and prevent greater poverty. They distribute more resources among the poor than government social spending.
Offering the United States a stable legal environment and lower taxes for its companies, so that they increase their investments in Mexico, should have been the central theme of President López Obrador.
Greater investment from US companies would help to avoid more poverty and unemployment in Mexico, for which the 4T must offer more legal stability, greater openness to investment and less taxes, the secrets of the success of the Chinese.
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