The Ambassador of Mexico H.E. Jorge Guajardo held a speech on the topic “NAFTA, NATO and China: Mexican perceptions”.
The speech of the ambassador was refreshing as he encouraged a lot of student involvement and used various real-life case studies to prove his points. When he stated the mutual interests of China and Mexico he also focused on future challenges. For instance, he praised Mexico-China relations, which has progressed tremendously. Nonetheless, he also mentioned that both countries have similar economic structures thatcreate several barriers in their bilateral trade. In particular, the steel industry of Mexico faces severe threats due to the high competition of Chinese competitors. As a matter of fact, Mexico’s steel industry faces de-industrialization because once factories are shut down theycan not be reopened.
Hence, the ambassador was contemplating several options how to solve Mexico’s economic challenges and improve Mexico-China relations. For example, he pointed out that China could benefit from the NAFTA, as the transport costs from China to North America can be reduced. China could achieve a reduction of its expenditures by shifting its production capacities to Northern Mexico along the border of North America, and therefore can save on costs for shipping their goods to the American Long Beach harbor, which is notorious for long waiting hours.
Ambassador Guajardo and Yan Xuetong
Cooperation in the future between these two countries will be more essential and both countries should find ways to make relations more mutually beneficial.
