Competitive Regionalism and Mexico’s FTA Strategy

Abstract

There are two distinct phases to Mexico’s modern trade strategy, each representing a different approach to multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations. The first phase (1970-1985) is characterized by two failed attempts at opening the trade regime unilaterally, including an unsuccessful effort to join the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) at the end of the Tokyo Round in 1979 due to domestic political pressures. The country’s economic strategy then was inward oriented, and regionalism was not high in the priorities of Mexican policymakers.