Mexico will need to work hard to rebrand its image following the U.S. presidential election, says Arturo Santa Cruz Díaz Santana, director of the Center for North American Studies at the Universidad de Guadalajara (UdG).
Speaking at a conference Thursday, Díaz Santana said even if Republican candidate Donald Trump looses next Tuesday’s election, it should not be lost on Mexico that a large percentage of the U.S. population shares his xenophobic views.
Anti-immigrant, anti-Mexican and anti-globalization sentiments won’t disappear after the election, he said. For this reason, Díaz Santana believes Mexico needs to enact vigorous public policies to demonstrate to its northern neighbor the value of Mexican migrants and the positive effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Jonathan Buckhurst, another expert on North American affairs, said the Mexican peso would likely stage a recovery if Clinton prevails at the polls next week. On the other hand, he warned that victory for Trump could cause chaos in international financial markets and further weaken the peso.
The experts on the conference panel conferred that whatever the outcome of the election, a divided Congress and frictions within the Republican and Democratic parties will make for a rocky next four years.