Texas Border Business
Laredo, Texas – Today, U.S. and Mexican officials announced bilateral agreement between their two countries in NAFTA negotiations, setting the stage for a final agreement that includes Canada. IBC Bank executives – who have been intimately involved with NAFTA since the trade agreement’s original negotiations in the early 1990s – are in a unique position to offer expert commentary about next steps and the key issues remaining to be resolved.
“As CEO of a Laredo-based bank, I have witnessed first-hand the powerfully positive economic impact NAFTA has had in Texas and throughout the United States over the past 24 years,” said Dennis Nixon, CEO and chairman of the board of International Bancshares Corporation and International Bank of Commerce. “The bilateral agreement between the United States and Mexico is an important step in renewing and updating this critical trade pact.”
Nixon is a member of the U.S.-Mexico CEO Dialogue, an elite group of 25 U.S. and 25 Mexican chief executives whose members address core issues in the bilateral relationship between the two countries. The Dialogue is an initiative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, of which Nixon is a former member of the board of directors.
“Today’s announcement is of course an extremely positive development,” said Gerry Schwebel, executive vice president of IBC Bank’s Corporate International Division. “However, it is important to understand the political obstacles a final agreement may still face in the United States and Mexico, as well as Canada.” Schwebel is a member of the U.S.-Mexico Economic Council (USMXECO), also an initiative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“As we update the tripartite trade agreement, nothing is more important for the Texas economy than solidifying our trade relations with Mexico, the state’s largest trading partner and the nation’s third-largest trading partner” said Eddie Aldrete, IBC Bank senior vice president. Aldrete is co-chair of the Texas-Mexico Trade Coalition, a pro-NAFTA group whose members include the Texas Association of Business, the Texas Business Leadership Council, the Borderplex Alliance and the Texas Association of Manufacturers.
All three executives have had leadership roles in bilateral efforts to facilitate the successful conclusion of NAFTA negotiations. Earlier in the summer, Nixon and Schwebel participated in the biannual meeting of the U.S.-Mexico CEO Dialogue in Washington, D.C.
