If Mexico participates in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, it could have wide-ranging beneficial effects for the country, say Vianey Romo de Vivar and Edgar Xavier Saucedo Ramirez.
Back in the 1970s, Mexicans did not generally experience the variety of products and services that have since swamped the domestic market. It used to be exceptional to get hold of a Snickers candy bar, whereas now kids can find them in every convenience store across the country. Obtaining some over-the-counter medicines sometimes meant travelling to a different country, or asking someone who was travelling to get them for you. Today it is a different story.
Opening access to a larger market results in increased competition on all levels of commerce. The same goes for innovation in all kinds of products, procedures, processes, methods of business and so on. The only way to stay in the game is to compete with better prices and more innovative products or services. The counterpart to competition is a new potential clientele—with a new world of needs and desires that need to be satisfied.
These are the lessons Mexico has learned after opening its long-shut doors to free trade. Free trade agreements have become part of the economic policy of Mexico, which has signed multilateral and bilateral agreements with the US, Canada, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Chile, Uruguay, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, the EU, the European Association for Free Commerce, Israel and Japan. Now it is the time for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement.
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TPP, patent protection, LIP
