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Even though a Pacific cold front moved across North Texas on Saturday, temperatures are still running above normal for this time of year. Highs on Sunday will rise into the upper-50s to lower-60s. Our normal high temperature is 56. A breezy southerly and southwesterly wind will only increase highs to begin the week. Also with this wind direction, mountain cedar …
Read More »The summit opens Monday with a meeting between López Obrador and Biden aimed at strengthening bilateral trade relations by accelerating border infrastructure projects and increasing cooperation on issues such as “labor mobility, security, education and climate change,” said Mexico’s Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. Energy, telecommunication and auto conglomerates are increasingly nervous about doing business in Mexico, pointing to what many call López Obrador’s nationalist agenda. López Obrador has threatened to tear up contracts worth billions of dollars signed under previous governments. He argues that his predecessors were influenced by corrupt forces and personal favors. Last year, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai requested dispute settlement consultation under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, saying the moves to nationalize certain industries represent a step backward for regional competitiveness and North American energy integration. Overall, the Biden administration says Mexico is favoring state-owned oil and power companies at the expense of American energy firms. López Obrador has referred to his political project as the Fourth Transformation of the country. Moving supply chains out of China Foreign investors hope for a breakthrough during the meetings – a key opportunity not just for the U.S. but for North America, said Shannon O’Neil, vice president and senior fellow for Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. “The U.S. government is using tariffs, export controls and other trade tools and allocating hundreds of billions of dollars to move supply chains out of China,” said O’Neil, author of The Globalization Myth. “This once-in-a-generation upheaval could and should benefit North America, particularly the Texas-Mexico border,” she said. “But just as the region is poised to benefit, Mexico is turning its back on North America by eroding democracy, ignoring insecurity and putting in place nationalistic policies in energy, food and more.” Un vendedor de paletas expende sus productos en Tijuana en la frontera con California. El… Un vendedor de paletas expende sus productos en Tijuana en la frontera con California. El Senado estadounidense aprobó el nuevo tratado comercial para Norteamérica(GUILLERMO ARIAS / AFP via Getty Images) North Texas investors and economic leaders argue that López Obrador’s policies could have ripple effects across Texas. They are watching a dispute over corn that arose after the Mexican government said it plans to ban imports of genetically modified corn for human consumption and perhaps eventually for animal feed. “Immigration, energy and corn,” said Al Zapanta, a longtime Republican and CEO of the Dallas-based U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce. “We need some clarity on those issues. And we need to get control of our border.” Feeding the tiger Eduardo Marroquin, a longtime energy executive, president of Hunt Mexico, a unit of Hunt Oil Co., is now vice president of Grupo Zaro, a freight trucking company that exports everything from tequila to wine – “just about anything that crosses the border” rumbling along the Interstate 35 corridor that connects North Texas to Mexico. Related:How New Mexico plans to take a bite from Texas’ trade with Mexico “I think if anything the summit helps provide some needed accountability,” said Marroquin. “AMLO wants to nationalize all these projects, like energy, but he would still have to feed the tiger [Mexican economy] and he has no money for the tiger without investors.” López Obrador’s administration needs to rein in violence that threatens the country’s social fabric and safety of foreign investors, and, unfortunately, it’s common practice for foreign companies, including energy conglomerates, to pay off organized crime just to operate, he said. “The problems are many,” he said, “but so are the opportunities.”
January 8, 2023