Conversaciones sobre el futuro del Tratado Económico con América del Norte

Live Stream

Location: Hojel Auditorium, Institute of the Americas, UC San Diego Campus (Map)

This daylong set of conversations with thought leaders from policy circles, industry and academia will initiate a dialogue on the future of the North American partnership. Experts will engage in discussions that analyze the likely consequences of revoking NAFTA on trade, diplomacy, security and the broader U.S.-Mexico relationship.

The conference marks the beginning of a series of high-level meetings and research projects that will present ongoing academic analysis from a political economy perspective in support of sound policymaking. The conference will be divided into three sessions. Session one will assess the impact of NAFTA and put forth projections on the size and wealth of the North American market in the coming decades with and without NAFTA. Session two will assess the spillover of NAFTA into other areas of the bilateral relationship. Last, session three will close the discussion by examining what lies ahead for U.S.-Mexico relations.

This event is hosted in collaboration with Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales, Institute of the Americas, Procopio, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, Smart Border Coalition, University of San Diego’s Justice in Mexico and World Trade Center San Diego.

Join us for a daylong set of conversations with thought leaders from policy circles, industry and academia on the future of the North American partnership. Sessions will focus on: 

• The Future of the North American Economy
• The Spillovers of NAFTA: Diplomacy and Security
• The Road Ahead

Agenda
UC San Diego 

9:30 – 10 a.m. | Registration and Breakfast

10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. | Session I: The Future of the North American Economy

10:00 a.m. Welcome

• Gordon Hanson, UC San Diego
• Melissa Floca, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies 

10:10 a.m. NAFTA in Retrospective

• Beatriz Leycegui, SAI Consulting
• Russ Jones, Border Trade Alliance
• Antonio Ortiz Mena, Albright Stonebridge Group
• Chair: Denise Moreno Ducheny, UC San Diego

10:55 a.m. North American Competitiveness Outlook Without NAFTA

• Gordon Hanson, UC San Diego
• Lindsay Oldenski, Georgetown University
• Chair: Nikia Clarke, World Trade Center San Diego

11:30 a.m. The Imperfections of NAFTA: Economic Dualities in North American Markets

• Gerardo Esquivel, COLMEX
• Jaana Remes, McKinsey Global Institute
• Harley Shaiken, UC Berkeley
• Chair: Dudley Althaus, Wall Street Journal

12:15 p.m. Keynote by Senator Armando Rios Piter, Operacion Monarca

• Introduction: Paola Avila, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce

12:30 p.m. | Luncheon

01:30 – 3 p.m. | Session II: The Spillovers of NAFTA: Diplomacy and Security

01:30 p.m. The Imperatives of Binational Security Cooperation

• Alan Bersin, Harvard Kennedy School
• David Shirk, University of San Diego
• Guillermo Valdes, GEA
• Chair: James Clark, Smart Border Coalition

02:15 p.m. Mexican and Canadian Diplomacy Towards the U.S.: The Non-NAFTA Scenario

• Thomas d’Aquino, North American Forum 
• Jeffrey Davidow, The Cohen Group
• Rafael Fernandez de Castro, ITAM
• Chair: Jamal Khokhar, Institute of the Americas

03:00 p.m. | Coffee Break

03:30 – 5 p.m. | Session III: The Road Ahead

03:30 p.m. Keynote by Juan Carlos Baker, Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade for Mexico

03:45 p.m. The Impact of a New Cross-Border Tax Regime

• Steve Zisser, Zisser Group
• Chair: Raul Villarreal Garza, Procopio

04:15 p.m. The Implications of New Political Realities: What Lies Ahead for the North American Partnership

• Michael Camuñez, ManattJones
• Thomas d’Aquino, North American Forum 
• Luis Rubio, COMEXI
• Chair: Elisabeth Malkin, New York Times

05:00 p.m. | Reception

Confirmed speakers include:

Alan Bersin, Homeland Security
Alan Bersin serves as assistant secretary for international affairs and chief diplomatic officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Policy. Bersin oversees DHS’s international engagement, serves as the principal adviser to the secretary in all matters pertaining to international affairs, and is responsible for leading the department’s strategic planning and policy formulation functions. Additionally, Bersin serves as vice president of the Americas region for Interpol and is a member of Interpol’s executive committee.

Michael Camuñez, ManattJones
Michael Camuñez is president and CEO of ManattJones Global Strategies. From 2010 to 2013, Camuñez was assistant secretary of commerce at the International Trade Administration, where he managed a global portfolio and helped lead the government’s efforts to open new markets for U.S. goods and services. Camuñez played a critical role in rebalancing the country’s economic policy toward Mexico, leading trade and policy missions, and helping update and modernize initiatives to enhance cross-border trade and investment. He also was the chief architect of the U.S.-Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue.

Jeffrey Davidow, The Cohen Group
In his 34-year foreign service career, Jeffrey Davidow gained extensive experience in Latin America and Africa, serving as a U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Venezuela and Zambia. Davidow, who is now a senior counselor at The Cohen Group, also headed the State Department’s efforts in Latin America, serving as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. He retired in 2003 from the department with the rank of career ambassador. He also served as an adviser to President Barack Obama for the 2009 Summit of the Americas.

Thomas d’Aquino, North American Forum
Thomas d’Aquino is Canada co-chair of the North American Forum, as well as an entrepreneur, philanthropist, corporate director, author and educator. From 1981 to 2009, d’Aquino was chief executive of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, comprising 150 of Canada’s leading enterprises and entrepreneurs. He was one of the private sector architects of the Canada-U.S. and North American free trade initiatives, organized and co-chaired the first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit, and he led the first Canadian CEO missions to China and India. Earlier in his career, d’Aquino served as special assistant to the prime minister of Canada.

Gerardo Esquivel, COLMEX
Since 1998, Gerardo Esquivel has served as a research professor at the Center of Economic Studies at El Colegio de Mexico (COLMEX). He also holds positions as an executive research coordinator at the Institute of Belisario Dominguez del Senado de la Republica, as an economics professor at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and as a member of the National System of Researchers Level III. In 2005, Esquivel received the award in social science research from the Mexican Academy of Sciences. Later, in 2008, he received the economic award “Ramon Beteta Quintana” and, in 2014, the National Public Finances Award.

Rafael Fernandez de Castro, ITAM
Rafael Fernández de Castro is presidential adviser for international affairs and competitiveness and founder and head of the Department of International Studies at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), as well as editor of Foreign Affairs en Español. Fernández de Castro has published numerous academic articles and written several books, including “The United States and Mexico: Between Partnership and Conflict with Jorge Domínguez” and “The U.S. Congress: The Controversial Pivot of North America with Robert Pastor.” Previously, he participated in the Binational Panel on Migration, which published the U.S.-Mexico Binational Study on Migration.

Gordon Hanson, UC San Diego
Gordon Hanson holds the Pacific Economic Cooperation Chair in International Economic Relations at UC San Diego. He holds faculty positions in the Department of Economics and at the School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS), where he also serves as acting dean and director of the School’s Center on Global Transformation. As well, Hanson is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and co-editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives. He is a past co-editor of the Review of Economics and Statistics and the Journal of Development Economics. Hanson specializes in the economics of international trade, international migration and foreign direct investment.

Russ Jones, Border Trade Alliance
Russ Jones is one of the U.S.-Mexico border’s largest customs brokers, with operations in California, Arizona and Pharr, Texas. He is currently chairman of Border Trade Alliance. Formerly, he also represented the border town of Yuma, Arizona, in the Arizona State Legislature. Jones graduated from San Diego State University with a B.A in business administration. He also studied economic development at the University of Arizona.

Beatriz Leycegui, SAI Law & Economics
Beatriz Leycegui has more than 25 years of professional experience in international trade, which she has exercised in the private, public and academic sectors. Currently a partner at SAI Law & Economics, Leycegui re-joined the consulting firm in 2013 as head of SAI’s international trade law practice group. She aso served as undersecretary for foreign trade at the Ministry of Economy of Mexico between 2006 and 2011. She served in the same ministry as director of legal analysis at the office in charge of negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement between 1990 and 1992. Leycegui’s public sector experience also includes five years of service at the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1983 to 1988.

Lindsay Oldenski, Georgetown University
Lindsay Oldenski is an associate professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. Prior to joining Georgetown, Oldenski taught at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, as well as at California State University San Marcos. She has worked as an economist at the U.S. Department of Treasury, an analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and a consultant in the biotech industry. Oldenski conducts research on international trade and multinational organizations. She currently is working on developing models to explain and predict the offshoring of services by multinational companies.

Antonio Ortiz-Mena, ASG
Antonio Ortiz-Mena is a senior adviser at Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG), where he provides strategic counsel and assistance to clients across Latin America. Ortiz-Mena began his career in the Mexican government, holding multiple senior advisory roles in the North American Free Trade Agreement Negotiation Office of the Ministry of Trade and Industrial Development, the Budget and Programming Ministry, and the Ministry of Fisheries. Prior to ASG, Ortiz-Mena served for more than eight years as the head of economic affairs at the Embassy of Mexico in the U.S. This included responsibilities over U.S.-Mexico energy, telecommunications and aviation issues, as well as serving as a liaison with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, plus the G20 and the U.S.-Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue.

Jaana Remes, McKinsey Global Institute
Jaana Remes is an economist and a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey & Co.’s business and economics research arm. Her most recent research looks at productivity and global growth prospects in an era of demographic decline. Her long-term research interests include analyses of how different policies have contributed to industry competitiveness and growth; the impact of multinational companies on emerging economies; and indepth assessments of the barriers to competitiveness and growth across a range of economies, including the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Canada, U.K., Finland, Sweden and South Korea.

Luis Rubio, CIDAC
Luis Rubio is chairman of the Center of Research for Development (CIDAC), an independent research institution devoted to the study of economic and political policy issues. He is a prolific writer on political, economic and international subjects. Prior, he was planning director of Citibank in Mexico and served as an adviser to Mexico’s Secretary of the Treasury. Rubio served on the board of directors of The Human Rights Commission of the Federal District and is a member of the Trilateral Commission.

Harley Shaiken, UC Berkeley
Harley Shaiken is a professor at the Graduate School of Education at UC Berkeley, where he focuses on the role of schooling and skills in the global economy. Shaiken explores issues at the intersection of information technology, work organization, labor and globalization. In particular, he has examined issues of economic and political integration in the Americas, with a focus on the U.S. and Mexico. He is currently the recipient of grants from the Ford Foundation and Hewlett Foundation. Since 1998, Shaiken has chaired the Center for Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley. He also has served as an adviser on globalization to key leaders of the U.S. Congress and to policymakers throughout the Americas.

David Shirk, University of San Diego
David Shirk is an associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of San Diego. Shirk’s teaching covers a range of subject areas, concentrated in comparative politics, international political economy, Latin American studies and U.S.-Latin American relations. He conducts research on Mexican politics, U.S.-Mexican relations, and law enforcement and security along the U.S.-Mexican border. Shirk also directs the Justice in Mexico Project, an initiative examining rule of law and security issues in Mexico. From 2003 to 2013, Shirk directed the Trans-Border Institute, which works to promote greater analysis and understanding of Mexico, U.S.-Mexico relations, and the U.S.-Mexico border region.

Guillermo Valdes, GEA
A partner at Grupo de Economistas y Asociados (GEA), Valdez previously directed the Center of Research and National Security (CISEN) from 2007 to 2011. As a member of the National Security Council and the Cabinet for Public Security, his responsibilities included coordinating the generation of information for research, evaluation and strategic scenarios concerning the national security agenda. Alongside President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser John Brennan, Valdez coordinated the U.S.-Mexico High-Level Group. Prior to CISEN, he first directed politics and opinion surveys at GEA.

Gustavo Vega, COLMEX
Gustavo Vega, the current general Secretary at El Colegio de Mexico (COLMEX), is a member of the National System of Researchers Level III. His interests include international relations, the international political economy of Mexico, and Mexico’s economic relationship with Canada and the U.S.—a relationship that is the focus of his books “México y Estados Unidos: La economía política del Libre Comercio” and “El Tratado de Libre Comercio en América del Norte: Visión retrospectiva y retos a futuro.”

Raúl Villarreal Garza, Procopio
Raúl Villarreal Garza is an attorney at Procopio, where he advises clients on matters related to international tax law. Focusing on cross-border transactions, he specializes in international tax planning and related legal matters involving the U.S., Mexico and other Latin-American countries. He has extensive experience in counseling as a tax attorney, particularly in domestic and international mergers, acquisitions and private equity deals, as well as the Mexican Tax Court.

Steven Zisser, Zisser Group
Steven Zisser is president and founder of the Zisser Group, with more than 20 years of experience in U.S. customs Law. A licensed attorney in the state of California, Zisser can practice before the U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He has developed procedures and processes for some of the nation’s largest manufacturers, distributors and retailers, covering classification, valuation, origin, marking/labeling, free trade agreements and recordkeeping.

Questions? Contact Lisa Lee.