Biden begins to rebuild U.S.-Mexico relations

Biden begins to rebuild U.S.-Mexico relations

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Greetings from Washington, news of the chaotic withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in recent weeks interrupted the usually sleepy August.

In terms of trade, we came back with a gorgeous new initiative proposed by the Biden team to make better friends with Mexico. Our main content is what this means and why it happens.

Concession watersAt the same time, study how supply chain disruption affects British retailer Halford.

We hope to hear from you.Send any ideas to [email protected] Or email me [email protected]

Beyond the “bad guy” era

Today, the so far dormant “high-level economic dialogue” has been relaunched between the United States and Mexico, which appears to be part of Washington’s efforts to repair the deteriorating relationship with Mexico after Trump. (You will remember Donald Trump trying to build a wall, imposing high tariffs on Mexican goods, and occasionally being rude to the wider Mexicans).

Sounds great, but what is “high-level economic dialogue”, or HLED as insiders know, I heard you ask? Obviously, this happens when the United States rotates the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce, the United States Trade Representative, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Vice President to discuss integrating supply chains, workforce development, and education, and address the root causes of economic problems. Immigrated with Mexican officials. HLED is a broad diplomatic framework that originally existed during the Obama administration but was shelved in 2016. It provides space for cross-department diplomats to promote relations with Mexico. So far, under the leadership of the Biden administration, the focus of diplomacy has been on various trade enforcement actions taken under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), as well as Vice President Kamala Harris’ efforts to resolve immigration issues, as well as in response to Some cooperation on Covid-19. The United States gave the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines that could not be used in the United States (arguably late) to Mexico (because they were not approved by its regulatory agency).

USMCA is progressing well, but some people, including those from Monarch Global, a consulting company led by a former senior official of the Department of Commerce under Barack Obama, think Should do more work Assess critical supply chains and work to support them, and more can be done to determine which industries are critical to North America’s long-term success. “In short, we need to critically think about the industrial policy of the entire region,” the monarch wrote in a recent report. Industrial policy, if it means subsidizing key industries related to green energy or industries vital to national security, is currently popular in Washington.

Monarch added that coordinated tax, investment, and labor policies will help North America to re-support some supply chains that are now scattered in Asia, as companies are looking for low-wage labor, which in some cases (such as the processing of rare earth minerals) is weak. Regulatory system.

But there are still difficulties between the United States and Mexico. In terms of trade, Mexico’s move to restore state control over the energy sector has suffered serious setbacks among US competitors, and under the USMCA, disputes over the country of origin rules for auto parts are brewing. Immigration remains an important discussion point. Since Trump is no longer in office, U.S. officials often do not mention “Bad guy“, but Democrats’ anxiety about Mexican immigrants—especially in the Covid era—is still high. Earlier this year, Republicans tried to describe the large number of immigrants on the southwest border as “a crisis,” and it seemed for the time being Failure to grasp the number of children detained in US facilities may be Joe Biden’s first big exploration as president. This problem has not disappeared. As the US military completed the embarrassing evacuation from Kabul, the children fell from the plane leaving the US The images of the end of the world have just been excluded from the news cycle. If anything, Afghan refugees are likely to turn the attention of offensive lawmakers to immigration, which will inevitably lead to additional scrutiny of the southwest border of the United States.

So what should I do? The overall theme seems to be definitely-working hard to make Central America’s economy stronger. Specifically, work hard to get their economy to allow workers to earn a living wage and get what the Democratic Party considers “good things”, such as education, health care, and transportation. This is not something that the United States can easily achieve through its available mechanisms, such as aid budgets or development finance companies that can issue low-cost loans and grants. Obviously, its trade agreement should also help, and its mechanism aims to improve labor quality and workers’ rights. In fact, as Edward Alden of the Council on Foreign Relations pointed out, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai sounds more like the Secretary of Labor than the top trade adviser. At the same time, former US ambassador to Mexico Earl Anthony Wayne told us that inter-agency cooperation does mean that Washington can “more seriously” consider trying to reduce the number of people who want to work in the United States or apply for asylum.

Will something happen soon? It is almost certainly not. As Wayne pointed out: “It is difficult to develop and economic development anywhere in the world… But it is better to have an institutional and regular framework to talk about it, not not to talk about it.”

Concession waters

As a bicycle retailer, the share price of British retailer Halfords (Halfords) has soared during 2020 because of people’s interest in cycling-which is currently not very popular in the UK compared to many other European countries. The pastime-rise.

As shown in the figure below, the chaos in the supply chain has led to a decline in bicycle sales, and this momentum has been affected to some extent.

Reported by the Financial Times yesterday The company issued a deal update stating that the global bicycle supply chain is still in the throes of “considerable capacity constraints,” which hinders growth. Claire Jones

Trade ties

Tech giants found a new way Battle chip shortage: do it yourself. Google already Decide Follow in Apple’s footsteps and produce in-house to deal with supply delays.

American giants Walmart Had to reconsider it China strategy, Bloomberg report ($, subscription required), after encountering a greater challenge than expected from Chinese equivalents Alibaba.

Can Automobile manufacturers Will increase their sales soon IndiaThe industry is closely watching New Delhi’s response to Tesla’s push to reduce tariffs before its debut in the Indian market. Nikkei report ($).

Singapore Yes lead (Nikkei, $) Southeast Asia and China are attracting Private property with Venture capital Groups wishing to invest in fast-growing start-ups in the region.

The currency of world trade, Dollar, It’s on the news again. Janet Yellen already warn Unless Congress raises the borrowing limit, the U.S. Treasury Department may run out of cash next month. This has happened in the past, and legislators finally decided to raise the ceiling.But the Biden Administration Increasingly worried about the possibility of a deadlock. Amy Williams, Francesca Regalado and Claire Jones

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