Highlights: Texas-Mexico 6th Annual Integration Symposium

Our Center’s 6th Annual Integration Symposium took place on April 5 in Dallas, and we presented our latest research and featured policymakers from Dallas, Texas and Mexico. Below are some of the highlights of our event.

Mayor of Dallas Eric Johnson

Mayor Eric Johnson spoke about his recent visit to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, and about how he will be relaunching the Dallas-Monterrey Sister City agreement to strengthen ties between the two cities.

Energy in North America: James Coleman and Guillermo García Sánchez

Our Faculty Advisory Board Member James Coleman and our Research Fellow Guillermo García Sánchez talked about their research findings and gave an overview about the current energy outlook for both Texas and Mexico. Two of the most important policy takeaways:

• The USMCA chapter that includes protecting foreign investment is being put to the test given the current situation with changes to Mexico’s energy reform. If it works, it could set the precedent for future cases.
• Green energy cannot be implemented overnight because there is still not enough infrastructure in place to generate enough green energy to meet the demand. Green energy will be a process that will take time, and until the world is ready to fully transition, we will still rely on traditional sources like natural gas.

Trade: Pia Orrenius and Glenn Hamer from TAB

Texas Association of Business (TAB) CEO Glenn Hamer talked with our Senior Fellow Pia Orrenius about why Texas is a great state to do business in. She presented her latest research findings, which show that what makes Texas unique is that most people who are born here stay here, as well as having a large amount of people moving in from other states and other countries. Texas also has a high rate of both opening businesses and keeping them open, and the combination of both makes it an exceptional state.

Click here to read more about her findings.

The Texas-Mexico Relationship: A Conversation with the Texas Secretary of State and the Consul General of Mexico in Dallas 

Our Senior Fellow Raymond Robertson moderated a conversation between the Texas Secretary of State, John Scott, and the Consul General of Mexico in Dallas, Francisco de la Torre. They spoke about why Texas and Mexico need to work closely together and why it makes sense to do so from a business perspective.