Mexican companies facing the challenges of the European market: What are the possibilities for the EU?

Abstract

Since the early 1980s, the Mexican government has applied an open economy development model dominated by the market paradigm and reduced government participation in the economy(PND, 1983, 1989, 1995, 2001). With regard to the new linkage with the international economy, the government is trying to apply a trade policy of market diversification, both in terms of countries and products. In other words, for the last two decades it has sought a greater or more active link between the external sector of the economy and the global economy, as it has seen this as a key variable for achieving the goals of the model, which are related to the recovery of the historical economic growth rates of the ISI model and the welfare of the population: employment, wages, stability, etc.

To achieve its goals, the Mexican government developed a strategy of new insertion into the international economy, based on two aspects: on the one hand, a voluntary and unilateral substitution and reduction of its tariff structure and, on the other hand, a greater rapprochement and membership in the then GATT in 1986. As a result of this two-pronged strategy, Mexico has been considered, especially by Mexican scholars of this opening process, as one of the most open economies in the world.