World Savvy Monitor

The histories of the United States and Mexico are intertwined.  At issue for centuries, even when they were colonies of Britain and Spain, respectively, was land.

• After the US gained its independence in 1776, and Mexico its independence in 1819, a slow battle over border territories between the two countries ramped up.  
  

• The following years saw the annexation of the independent republic of Texas by the United States, an offer from the US to buy New Mexico and California from Mexico, a two-year hot war, and a peace treaty granting the American victors not only New Mexico and California, but also parts of Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada.  
  

• With the 1853 Gadsden Purchase, the modern border between the US and Mexico was finalized.

Beyond land, US-Mexico tensions have also been about influence. 

• In the 1820s, following machinations by European players to gain a foothold in the Western Hemisphere, the US made it plain (in the form of the Monroe Doctrine) that its backyard was off limits to outside powers, essentially claiming the hemisphere as its sphere of influence.  
  

• A Good Neighbor Policy accompanied this assertion, with the US reassuring Mexico and other Latin American countries that it would not intervene in their domestic matters.  
  

• In the 1940s and 1950s came the Cold War, and the US sought to keep Communism out of the hemisphere by taking sides in several wars in the region.  

The late 20th Century was marked by Mexican economic decline, resulting in debt and currency crises, for which the US provided some relief.  The post 1994 US-Mexico era has been marked by issues of trade (NAFTA), migration, security, energy, drugs, and the environment.  Relations have been affected by global trends as well, including the post-9/11 war on terror and the rise of China as a common economic threat.

An overriding factor in US-Mexican relations is asymmetry.  

• The US has always been the more dominant partner, by virtue of its size, the strength of its economy, and its geopolitical influence.  The exception is US dependence on Mexican oil.  Mexico is the second-largest oil exporter to the US.
  

• Located next door to a world superpower is a tricky place to be – not only because US influence is so strong, but because its attention to Mexican concerns has often been sporadic.  
  

• Mexico has, at times, retaliated by taking positions on the international stage that run counter to US interests.  These include Mexico’s decision not to support the US invasion of Iraq, and displays of camaraderie with US enemies such as Venezuela and Cuba.

In 2009, President Obama embarked on what has been framed as a new era in US-Mexican relations.  Well-publicized issues surrounding drug violence and immigration have elevated Mexican policy in the new President’s priorities.  On his highly scripted visit to Mexico City in April, he announced that he was there “to launch a new era of partnership… built on an even firmer foundation of mutual responsibility, mutual respect, and mutual interest.”  

This has been accompanied by a billion dollar (mostly military) initiative to help Mexico deal with increasing drug violence, known as the Merida Initiative.  Critics of this initiative believe the solutions to mounting border crises lie not in more sophisticated weaponry for Mexican drug officials or in more immigration controls, but in reducing the glaring inequality between the two countries that lies at the root of many of these crises.  

As globalization has progressed, the US and Mexico (and Canada) have become more interdependent, and it is unlikely that this trend will reverse, despite the global economic recession.  But this remains an asymmetrical interdependence, as Mexico is in a more vulnerable position and more easily buffeted by political, economic, and social trends at play inside its larger neighbors.

Next:  Mexico in the Context of North America:  Economy and Trade