Can NAFTA Protect Big Oil From Mexico’s Populist Movement?

The second round of NAFTA negotiations that concluded
yesterday in Mexico City sought ways to enshrine the 2014 energy
sector reforms that the Enrique Pena-Nieto government had launched
to overhaul an oil and gas industry monopolized by state-major,
Pemex. This monopoly had all the consequences that were to be
expected, including underinvestment in new oil and gas discoveries,
falling output, and ultimately, a threat to the country’s energy
security with increased reliance on imports, especially of fuels
and natural gas, from the U.S. The…

The second round of NAFTA negotiations that concluded
yesterday in Mexico City sought ways to enshrine the 2014 energy
sector reforms that the Enrique Pena-Nieto government had launched
to overhaul an oil and gas industry monopolized by state-major,
Pemex. This monopoly had all the consequences that were to be
expected, including underinvestment in new oil and gas discoveries,
falling output, and ultimately, a threat to the country’s energy
security with increased reliance on imports, especially of fuels
and natural gas, from the U.S. The…