Contrary to the triumphalist rhetoric that describes the automotive industry as a lever for both regional development in North America and industrial upgrading in Mexico, this article argues that the formation of the Mexico–U.S. automotive complex has instead been consolidated on the basis of longstanding processes of uneven regional development. To make this argument, the paper examines how global economic restructuring, trade policies, domestic economic development processes, transnational firm decision making and the maintenance of the geopolitical border have reproduced extreme wage differences between the United States and Mexico, resulting in the creation of a regional automotive sector that is both highly integrated and highly unequal. In this scenario, both nations are home to profoundly different industrial landscapes: the U.S. hosts the highest value-added links of the production chain, monopolizing processes of innovation and scientific and technological knowledge production, while in contrast, Mexico manufactures the most labour intense and lowest value-added links of the automotive production chain. From this perspective, the Mexican economy can be essentially understood as an export manufacturing platform which derives its ‘competitiveness’ from the aggressive industry maintenance of low wages.
<p>Se analiza fundamental el desempeño del Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, así como sus diferencias y convergencias con el Tratado México, Estados Unidos y Canadá de manera destacada en la industria automotriz y el efecto que se ha expresado en el mundo del trabajo en México.</p><p> </p><div><p> </p></div>
<p>La presente colaboración expone por qué el capital automotriz de Estados Unidos fluye constantemente hacia México y otras partes del Sur Global durante las últimas décadas, y cómo se relaciona con las ventajas que de ello extrae, entre otros mecanismos por el valor del arbitraje laboral en el contexto de las cadenas globales de valor. Estrategia seguida por más de tres décadas que la agenda del Consenso de Washington y que lejos de percibir indicios de “escalamiento” industrial más bien se ha producido un proceso de degradación y retroceso. Condición donde sobresale México pero también América Latina, lo que la ha mantenido sumergida en un escenario de dependencia tecnológico, fragmentación industrial y precarización del mercado nacional.</p><div><div><p> </p></div></div>
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