In 1991, Walmart, a U.S. corporation that runs a chain of discount department stores, opened its first store in Mexico. Today, Walmart operates more than two thousand stores in Mexico and employs more than 209,000 people, making it the largest private employer in the country.
What are the most common misunderstandings about Mexico? Janice Gallagher, Brown University
Walmart’s rapid expansion is part of a larger trend of economic change in Mexico. Since the 1980s, Mexico’s leaders have focused on increasing Mexico’s ties to the global economy. In the last three decades, Mexico has seen a massive influx of multinational corporations and foreign retail stores. Parts of the country are now almost indistinguishable from the United States, a jarring change to many Mexicans. This economic change has been matched with political reform. In 2000, for the first time in seventy-one years, Mexicans elected a president who was not a candidate of the leading party, the PRI.
But as the country focuses on entering the global marketplace, inequality continues to pull Mexican society apart. Mexican business executives jet from continent to continent while poor people in the cities are caught in a widening web of crime and drug trafficking. At the same time, much of Mexico’s rural indigenous population lacks basic services such as running water, sanitation, and access to primary education.
Walmart’s presence in Mexico highlights another important feature of Mexico today—the country’s evolving relationship with the United States. Despite an uneasy past, the United States and Mexico ushered in a new era of integration and cooperation in 1994 with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which dramatically increased trade among North American countries. Today about two-thirds of Mexico’s trade is with the United States, and about one-tenth of U.S. trade is with Mexico. At the same time, growing U.S. concerns about immigration, drug trafficking, crime, and border security have strained this relationship. Mexican leaders have often been frustrated by U.S. policies toward Mexican immigrants in the United States.
This photograph shows the U.S.-Mexico border. On the right is the Mexican city Tijuana. On the left are the outskirts of San Diego, California in the United States. Sgt. 1st Class Gordon Hyde, U.S. National Guard.
In this reading, you will be asked to step into the shoes of Mexicans and consider Mexico’s future. The readings trace the history of Mexico, from its precolonial past to its most recent political and economic changes. You will be asked to consider the same questions that the people of Mexico are now debating: What principles should guide the development of Mexico’s economy? How should Mexico define its relationship with the United States? How should it define its relationship with the rest of the world? How should Mexicans address their country’s inequality and poverty? How should they address increasing rates of crime and violence?
