This report explores the motives underlying Mexico’s contradictory climate change policies. Given the fossil fuel-centered actions of the López Obrador administration, the author argues that Mexico’s recent clean energy turn is merely an attempt to lower tensions with the U.S. — not a true commitment to combatting climate change.
China’s dominance over the supply of rare earths — which are critical for energy transition and defense technologies — should spur U.S. policymakers to bolster raw materials supply chains, write energy fellow Michelle Michot Foss and co-author Jacob Koelsch.
Michelle Michot Foss, Jacob KoelschDecember 19, 2022
This paper reviews the attempts of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to push for reforms in the electricity sector that would strengthen the Comisión Federal de Electricidad, Mexico’s state-owned electric utility, while limiting the involvement of privately owned power companies.
The authors examine tensions in nickel supply and value chains within the context of broad aspirations to electrify transport. Through their case study, which focuses on China’s growing presence in Indonesian nickel extraction and processing, they contend that China is positioning itself as a gatekeeper to the energy transition — with vast implications for strategic planning in the United States.
Mexico's complex land governance regime does not generate certainty for foreign investors, writes nonresident scholar Miriam Grunstein. In this paper, she explores land classifications in Mexico and the challenges investors may face when attempting to acquire acreage.
On May 28, the Biden administration announced plans to speed up immigrant court cases — a bid to limit backlogs and extremely long waits for cases to be heard. The Center for the United States and Mexico wrote about this problem in its April 2021 recommendations for an "effective, nimble and fair” immigration court system.
This paper examines Mexican skilled migration to Texas, particularly to Houston, and explores the factors that motivate such migrants to emigrate, whether they intend to return to Mexico permanently or remain in the U.S. and in what ways they contribute to knowledge-transfer activities between the U.S. and Mexico in health care research.
One of the goals of Mexico's energy reform was to create a regulatory system that would foster competition in a very complex political environment. This framework, known as "coordinated regulatory bodies," was established in Article 28 of the Constitution and is intended to oversee and regulate the hydrocarbons sector. This paper conducts a legal analysis of this new model of regulation and seeks to determine whether its implementation strengthens the rule of law in Mexico.
As a result of the 2013 energy reform, oil and gas companies completing projects in Mexico must now meet mandatory requirements to utilize local goods and services suppliers.
The authors analyze the legislative framework in place to enforce the local content requirement and the economic implications of the policy.