Politics: Tension on multiple fronts marks US-Mexican relations
US-Mexican relations, while always having their ups and downs, are today marked by considerable tensions. Such tensions have been exacerbated in recent weeks due to Washington’s aggressiveness on three fronts. The first is immigration, with intensified ICE raids across the United States, a corresponding pushback from immigrant communities, and the use of the issue to strengthen Trump’s image as an effective, feared president who takes his right-wing anti-immigrant base into account. The second is public security: while US Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson has praised Mexican government efforts and results in the field and hailed bilateral cooperation, pressure has continued, with the demand that Morena politicians and local governments break ties with drug cartels—links that the administration adamantly denies. The third is the economy. Tensions have not abated, with punitive tariff increases being announced and then withdrawn or reduced and then once again announced. This has been coupled with moves to slap a tax on remittances sent by undocumented immigrants, which would hurt both families who receive such economic assistance and the Mexican economy as a whole. Other disputes have arisen over President Trump’s accusation that Mexico is stealing water that corresponds to the United States under the terms of the 1944 Water Treaty, as well as the White House’s decision to close the border to Mexican cattle exports due to the presence of the screwworm pest in southeast Mexico.
Mexico’s response has been defensive and marred by serious errors and vulnerabilities. These include the counterproductive use of a nationalist discourse, which might play well at home but not abroad. Of course, the Mexican government is faced with managing a delicate balancing act, seeking to protect the interests of both the country and Mexican nationals in the United States while at the same maintaining a tone conciliatory to President Trump. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether President Claudia Sheinbaum will get her act together and come up with a comprehensive strategy to deal with the thorny issue of US-Mexican relations. The issue is complex and is clearly not going away anytime soon.
Now read on...
Register to sample a report