ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the economic and political determinants of Mexico's dramatic shifts in trade policy towards liberalization and the search for a free trade agreement with the United States and Canada. It discusses the evolution of Mexican trade policy and Mexican-U.S. trade relations in the post war period until 1990. The chapter also discusses the domestic politics of trade liberalization in Mexico. It reviews the views and positions of the main political parties in Mexico towards the North American Free Trade Agreement. The modem Mexican state emerged after two decades of revolution, civil war and military revolts. From the 1950s through the early 1970s, a period which in Mexican history is referred to as the Era of Stabilizing Development, the Mexican government, backed by the private sector and the unions, brought about high levels of growth with low levels of inflation.
