Immigration on the road
Immigration on the road
On April 17th, the forum "Immigration on the road: Labor mobility in North America" was held, organized by Mexico, ¿Cómo vamos?, Connecting Mexico, and the Baker Institute. This forum was part of The North American Project initiative, which aims to foster interregional dialogues and establish shared goals to boost competitiveness in the North American region. This initiative gains significance in the context of the possible review of the USMCA in 2026, creating an opportunity to address the challenges and opportunities for the effective integration of human capital into the regional labor market.
As a company dedicated to assisting international businesses in understanding Mexico's political context to facilitate investment decisions, Connecting Mexico has a keen interest in topics related to labor mobility and economic integration in North America, as discussed in this forum. Significant regulatory changes, such as the potential renegotiation of the USMCA in 2026, could significantly influence regional labor markets and economic activities in the country, making it crucial to have access to quality information and shaping dialogue.
During the event, the speakers took a look back at various significant happenings for trilateral cooperation. For instance, they talked about the whole deal with North American commercial and economic integration, which began in 1994 when NAFTA came into play. Undoubtedly, the treaty has been a key player when it comes to boosting the region's economy. But with nearshoring on the rise and talk of a possible USMCA review in 2026, there are challenges to think about, like labor mobility.
Tony Payan, Head of the Center for the United States and Mexico at the Baker Institute, highlighted the growing North American labor integration over the last three decades. The substantial presence of Mexicans in the US labor market poses challenges in migration policies in both countries. Despite ample job opportunities in sectors such as hospitality and agriculture, the United States faces a labor shortage with 11.2 million job vacancies (data from December 2022). In this regard, the importance of the TN visa was emphasized, which is a non-immigrant work visa for Mexican and Canadian professionals, although it is only applicable to 63 professions, including scientists, engineers, lawyers, dentists, among others. The TN visa was established in NAFTA and aims to strengthen and facilitate relations and trade among the three countries. In this sense, panelists advocated for a review of the eligible professions for this visa, as well as greater transparency in labor demand statistics.
Luis de la Calle, who was a negotiator for NAFTA, predicted that North America will lead global competitiveness in part because its young population offers potential for innovation and technology. To capitalize on this demographic advantage, Mexico must focus on improving the quality of human capital through strategies such as professionalization, interorganizational training, cooperation, knowledge exchange between sectors, and facilitating mobility.
The possible presidency of Donald Trump in the United States was identified as a primary concern regarding the short-term challenges facing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). His election would mean the possibility of tariff impositions, as well as a rigid and partisan renegotiation of the agreement, which could even lead to its interruption. This fact makes it imperative to seek alliances and areas of common interest between the two countries, so Mexico must analyze and expand its horizons and cooperation strategies.
As labor mobility continues to shape North American integration, forums like this allow stakeholders to stay ahead in effectively managing the issue in the political-economic spheres. This requires synergy among all parties to cultivate strong channels of human capital, harmonize visa regimes, codify accreditation standards, and continually elevate trilateral cooperation beyond the leader's personal and political interests.
We're at a prime time for looking back and assessing things, where, while the trade treaty has been crucial for the region's economic growth, it's also shown that there are still plenty of opportunities to take. As of now, there's a golden chance to evaluate political decisions and suggest actions that drive the integration of human capital in North America through specialized organizations that can handle this valuable information.
Collaboration between the government, private sector, educational institutions, and civil society is key to achieve greater labor integration in the region. Likewise, it is crucial to disseminate and understand the TN visa and rethink the list of professions to keep it updated to the time and needs of the current context. Finally, it is necessary to think of the North American region as part of the global sphere, so challenges such as China's commercial expansion in the region must be present in analysis and discussion.
For Connecting Mexico, it's crucial to create spaces like these, aiming to shape the conversation and to spot opportunities while understanding the political and regulatory risks in the region. This way, we can offer investors a thorough analysis of how labor regulations are evolving, along with risks like potential US protectionism, gaps in workforce skills, and opportunities in emerging trends in human capital.
