The first midterm counts for 15% of the final course grade. This is a take-home exam. The expectation is that you will devote approximately 4 hours to completing it, including research, writing and editing. You may consult any sources you wish, but must cite any ideas or material that is not your own.

QUESTION1
:For 50 points: please write a short essay (two pages maximum) on one of the following prompts:

The U.S. and Mexico have a long and uneven history of cooperation and confrontation. Yet since the late 1980s the countries have chosen to cooperate more often than to confront each other. What factors have led to the two countries increasing their level of cooperation in the last two decades, and how has this undertaking manifested in solving specific policy problems?

OR

NAFTA has been widely characterized as a groundbreaking trade agreement and it has now been significantly modified by the USMCA. What were the main objectives the trade agreement was meant to achieve and to what degree do you think the US and Mexico have achieved these aims? What are the modified objectives of the USMCA and how do you judge the prospects for the countries achieving them?

QUESTION 2 
For 50 points: focus on a single policy problem targeted by either Nafta or USMCA that has not seen significant progress and using the Eight Fold Path methodology, posit some possible alternatives for Mexico and the U.S. that could move the countries forward in that area.

QUESTION3
For extra credit answer the following bonus question in two to three paragraphs :

Although Mexico and the U.S. have benefitted from a vibrant and expanding economic relationship, the gulf between most measures of development and wellbeing between the two countries continues to expand. Do you believe it is possible to ever bridge that gulf? If so, what would the two countries need to do to achieve a goal of substantially reducing the gap between them?