Ana María Aragonese: Mexico requires strategic autonomy

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August 1 It was the fatal date for the United States to apply 30 percent tariffs to Mexico, since there would be no extension or more periods of graceLutnick had warned Secretary of Commerce. However, Donald Trump gave a pause 90 days, and not because it changed its absurd justification that the Mexican government did not do enough to stop the flow of fentanyl or that of undocumented migrants, but because, as it seemed to imply in the statement sent immediately after finishing the phone call, Mexico had accepted immediately eliminate non -tariff barriers.

While there is no doubt that President Claudia Sheinbaum has the temper and character to file the attacks of the northern neighbor, so far it has not been clear what that agreement that allegedly accepted. On the other hand, the president received in her office as a national palace the Ambassador Ronald Johnson with a set of entrepreneurs, a meeting of which little commented.

The parade of a set of transnational pharmaceutical representatives in the press morning was important, where they emphasized the important investments they will make as well as the jobs that will be generated in the country. It was quite clear, because they commented, that their primary interest is to export to the whole world, recognizing the importance of the closeness of the United States. To the question of whether among its objectives was the impulse to the investigation, if they were willing to transfer technology, innovations, the truth, there was no satisfactory response. But the most worrying was the exhibition of the representative of the pharmaceutical Bayer, who, without ambiguity, spoke of glyphosate as a wonder that also thought important to direct it to the little peasants. Do not turn it around, Bayer is the key company for its innovations in transgenic seeds, and continues to insist that they are beneficial despite being prohibited in almost everyone. Mexico should close the passage to such harmful company, which is able to poison crops and food, without receiving any punishment.

Why do not support national pharmacists, to which investments are granted that are receiving research generated by internal human resources, to create innovations, new technologies that, in turn, generate Mexican patents and thus benefit the domestic market and, of course, to export?

Or will the experience of the multinational automotive industry be repeated that has turned Mexico into a maquiladora country?

The NAFTA and its successor, the T-MEC, have limited the ability to generate sustainable and inclusive development for Mexico. On the one hand, because much of the inputs and technologies are imported; Strategic and design decisions are taken out of the country and Mexican participation is concentrated in basic stages. To top it off, technology transfer has not been achieved nor is there an articulation with academic institutions; All of them conditions that are an obstacle to achieving autonomous industrialization. The incorporation of qualified human capital is limited, so on many occasions it has no choice but to migrate.

The automotive industry is a sector that consumes large amounts of water and energy, with negative impacts due to water stress. To top it off, the Mexican economy has not diversified: 82 percent of the production is destined for export to the United States, which generates a deep uncertainty and vulnerability in times of crisis, such as the one that is currently being lived waiting for Donald Trump’s tariff arbitrary. The multinational automotive industry has reproduced a dependent model, due to the low integration of national value, poor working conditions and, above all, the lack of national innovation. Remember that foreign capital does not produce development, on the contrary, intensifies the dependence with the capitalist hegemonic center, which explains why it is not neutral.

The development poles in the Mexico Plan proposed by President Sheinbaum can only be a strategic opportunity to transform the country if it is avoided to reproduce the maquila scheme. It is required to seek alternatives that allow it to weaken the dependence of the United States, strengthen commercial relations with the European Union, Latin America and Asia. Make political, economic and security decisions without depending on external actors in a decisive manner, that is, strategic autonomy, or what is the same negotiate with everyone and depend on none (Alejandro marked).