Which brings us to Mexico, where politics – and everything else – revolves exclusively around what Andrés Manuel López Obrador does or says.
It seems to me that the problem of the opposition is not only the absence of figures, it is the lack of proposals. True, it is difficult to remain undaunted in the face of morning soliloquies or major nonsense, such as the initiative to reform the National Guard. However, games are not won by playing defense alone. To snatch the narrative from the man of the palace, it is necessary to begin to imagine alternative countries.
For example, Mexico could take advantage of this situation and launch its own IRA. As politicians think of a better name, let’s call it the “Get Back on Track Initiative” and focus on the proactive.
First, on the climate change front, the IRA allocates $369 billion to promote the energy transition between businesses and households. Many of the dollars that the government will spend incentivize investment for many more dollars by the private sector, to the extent that, by 2030, the United States could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent compared to 2005 levels.
On the Mexican side, instead of putting the T-MEC at risk due to a misunderstood concept of sovereignty, we should review and adapt our energy matrix to take full advantage of the sectors that benefit from the IRA and take advantage of spillover effects. The incentives that the program offers for the purchase of electric vehicles, for example, are consistent with the rules of regional origin.
But what happens if the segments of the chain located in Mexico use electricity generated from fuel oil? If we don’t get our act together, an energetic divergence will occur that will make us less and less competitive.
On the health care front, our neighbors spend too much; the growth of spending on private consumption in the last 20 years is practically explained by this item. The IRA allows the government to negotiate the price of certain medicines, which ultimately limits the market power of the pharmaceutical industry. However, the health sector is going to demand an enormous number of workers in the coming years and Mexico can offer this personnel.
In the bilateral dialogue, we must stop discussing migration and talk about integration of labor markets. It sounds ambitious because it is, but the sooner we start, the better.