On Oct. 21, the Lund Critical Debate Series will host its annual debate, with this year’s focus on “U.S.- Mexico Relations Under Trump.” Speakers will debate how trade, migration and security are affected by President Donald Trump’s changes to U.S. foreign policy regarding Mexico.
The debate will feature Ambassador Emeritus for Mexico Sandra Fuentes-Berain and former U.S.ambassador to Mexico Roberta S. Jacobson and takes place next Monday from 4:30 – 6 p.m. in Klarman Hall KG70.
Jacobson served as the U.S. ambassador to Mexico from 2016 to 2018. She resigned from her post in 2018 during a time of tense relations between the two countries under Trump — what she called a “crucial moment.”.Prior to her work as an ambassador, Jacobson had also serviced the State Department’s Western Hemisphere Bureau and the American embassies in Argentina and Peru.
Fuertes-Berain received the title of Ambassador Emeritus in 2012, becoming the first woman to receive the title and one of only five who has been granted the lifetime honor by Mexico’s Foreign Service. She served as the Consul General of Mexico in New York from 2013 to 2016 and has previously served as Mexico’s ambassador to various countries including Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France and Monaco.
Past speakers for the Lund Critical Debate Series have included experts on the Korean peninsula, who debated the region’s denuclearization, and leaders in renewable energy solutions who considered the potential of nuclear power as a clean energy solution.
The debate this year will be moderated by Prof. Gustavo Flores-Macías, government, who specializes in research on the politics of economic reform and taxation and state capacity.
The Lund Critical Debate Series is hosted by Mario Einuadi Center for International Studies and is aimed at providing the audience with expert opinions on relevant issues. The series was created by and is named after Judith Lund Biggs ’57.
The debate series was launched in 2008, with the aim to “strengthen academic discourse at Cornell and enhance the student experience” an early flyer states.