Word: nafta
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...BUSINESS, July 16]. How far-reaching is a government's right to block a company from growing or merging? In this new, globalized era, large companies that decide to make big moves that affect more than one region of the planet have to deal with two or more bodies--NAFTA, E.U., Mercosur, you name it. Is this the end of the American economic hegemony? DANIEL PASKIN Miami...
Nearly 10 years after NAFTA wiped out virtually all trade barriers between the U.S. and Mexico, the most regulated legal commodity on the border is people. Mexicans who want to move to the U.S. find a door that's been dead-bolted--but cheesed with countless tiny holes. About 400,000 Mexicans cross over every morning to shop or visit; yet they cannot work or stay more than a few days. Several thousand try to sneak across each night, but most are caught by the border patrol; those who make it disappear into the underground economy. A tiny number apply...
...These NAFTA Men--and a few women--are genetically engineered by the new border economy. Managers are taught to take a different route to work every day to foil potential kidnappers. They grow accustomed to training--and losing--an entire factory floor of workers every year. And they have discovered that "casual Friday" in McAllen is often a dress-up workday on the other side. Around here, the most valuable asset is their flexibility. "You have to switch gears in Mexico--and not just languages. You have a behavior shift too," says Charles Taliaferro, 49, who runs maquila operations...
...most responsible for NAFTA Man's ascendance in McAllen is a former Catholic priest turned economic hustler named, coincidentally, Mike Allen. As president of the local economic-development office, the 63-year-old executive uses local tax funds to attract business to McAllen--as well as to its Mexican sister city, Reynosa, across the vein-thin river. "I remember back in '88 meeting the mayor of Reynosa. He had an AK-47 in his back seat. We did a handshake deal to bring manufacturers to Mexico," says Allen. Back then, Reynosa had fewer than 20 factories, with 16,000 employees...
...talk a lot about working together to find solutions. But at the moment, the most creative efforts come from local officials, the private sector, the charities and community groups that build informal alliances across the river. And they often do it without help from Mexico City or Washington, whose NAFTA dreams created the problems...