NAFTA and U.S.-Mexico Relations: In Retrospect and Prospect (program), February 22-23, 2007

The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection of The University of Texas Libraries and the Mexican Center of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies are organizing a conference to mark the donation to the Benson Collection of the archives on the NAFTA negotiations of the Mexico-U.S. Business Committee. The conference will analyze the history and impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement. A major aim of the conference is to provide an assessment of the NAFTA negotiations and of the resulting agreement in 1993-1994. It is our hope that the recently acquired archival collection will help scholars to research further in this area. A second major aim is to take stock of how NAFTA has worked up to the present and to discuss possible new directions for the agreement. To this end, we intend to invite policymakers and researchers from both Mexico and the United States who can complement each other's perspectives. In an introductory panel, we would like to take a retrospective look at the process of negotiation, review the original goals that the agreement intended to accomplish, and discuss the challenges that the agreement has faced in the last ten years. Our preliminary agenda also would include the following interrelated sets of issues: First, NAFTA's potential role in accelerating Mexico's competitiveness and promoting technological exchange and joint business development initiatives between the U.S. and Mexico; Second, the influence of NAFTA on social development, specifically on poverty and income inequalities in Mexico; Third, the implications of NAFTA for the new dynamics of Mexico-U.S. migration and the public policies emerging on both sides of the border to deal with these new dynamics; Fourth, the rule of law under NAFTA, that is, the impact of NAFTA on the transparency and effectiveness of the domestic law and legal systems of Mexico and the U.S. in areas of environmental protection, intellectual property, labor, etc.; Finally, the effects of NAFTA on U.S.-Mexico relations, especially the nature and adequacy of political and media communication between them.