Mexico's Populist Savior May Be Too Good to Be True

Until last year, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) had enjoyed a relatively untroubled existence. For its nearly 24 years, the agreement, which links the economies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico by removing trade tariffs between them, sat largely beyond the public consciousness. But those quiet days are no more. On October 17, the fourth round of talks to renegotiate NAFTA, spurred on by President Donald Trump’s insistence that it is to blame for lost jobs in America, came to an end.Mexico’s leaders had hoped to finish the talks quickly, but Trump’s demand to balance trade deficits has pushed out the talks. At the end of last month, negotiations were extended to 2018.

This is bad news for the government of Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto, which hoped to finish talks before the new year to reassure investors and dispel the uncertainty swirling around the trade deal that has sent the peso flailing up and down. Mexico’s political elites also hoped that by wrapping up discussions, NAFTA would remain beyond the grasp of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the left-wing populist running for in next