Interview: Mexico must reduce dependence on U.S. to safeguard sovereignty, says expert

by Jose Gabriel Martinez

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's future hinges on reducing its economic and political dependence on the United States, a relationship that has long constrained the country's sovereignty, a political scientist has said.

"To preserve a meaningful degree of sovereignty, Mexico must begin breaking away from this dependency. The impositions it brings should become increasingly unacceptable," Jaime Tamayo, an international relations scholar at the University of Guadalajara, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Tamayo identified Mexico's main challenge as overcoming an economic model that favors subordination to its northern neighbor, warning that making domestic or foreign policy concessions to appease Washington only deepens that dependence.

"Mexico needs to turn toward the rest of the world, even if that transition is economically difficult at first," he said.

The expert added that over 80 percent of Mexico's goods exports go to the United States, creating a "vicious circle" that reinforces U.S. dominance with each new concession. "The United States effectively decides with whom we can associate, even within the limited market space left for Mexico," he said.

Tamayo noted that Mexico's 1994 entry into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) led to deindustrialization and the weakening of domestic production.

"Industries like textiles and appliances disappeared. We became largely a maquiladora country," he said, referring to low-wage assembly operations reliant on imported inputs. As a result, many former producers became importers of U.S. goods. "The damage has been deep, changing Mexico's economic fabric," he said.

To reverse the trend, Tamayo stressed the importance of internal strengthening, starting with self-sufficiency. "Food self-sufficiency is key, but economic diversification is also essential."

Although Mexico has signed numerous trade agreements, most remain underutilized, leaving its economy anchored to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which replaced NAFTA in July 2020, he added. "Mexico must revive a multilateral trade strategy."

He also urged greater engagement with emerging cooperation platforms, such as BRICS, stressing that Mexico must adopt a more multilateral and sovereign foreign policy aligned with new global power balances.

"Mexico should resist external impositions and open itself to a truly multilateral trade model -- not only to counter the unipolar order but also to strengthen its own economic autonomy," Tamayo said. ■