Themes with profound importance for relations between the U.S. and Mexico – and other parts of Latin America – continued to resound in early February in the halls of power in Washington and Mexico City.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Mexico City for talks with Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and other meetings that also included Canadian Foreign Secretary Chrystia Freeland.
These talks among the top international power brokers of North America touched on important themes ranging from Russian and Chinese meddling in Mexican and Latin American elections to international narcotics trafficking and the worsening crisis in Venezuela.
One surprising outcome of these meetings was a statement attributed to Videgaray that U.S.-Mexican relations are closer under President Donald Trump than during previous administrations, including ex-President Barack Obama.
While many observers might challenge that observation, Trump at least has put Mexico on page one of his agenda. For many throughout the hemisphere, the Obama administration’s benign neglect of Latin America was disheartening. Washington’s renewed focus on Mexico, while seemingly misdirected so far, could end up having some positive impact over time.
Meanwhile in Washington, Trump continued his battle with Congressional Democrats over funding for his proposed Mexican border wall and the status of some 600,000 “Dreamers,” young Mexican and Central American immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as infants and children.
A second federal government shutdoom in less than a month was precipated by wrangling over this logjam.
And perhaps even more important for the hemisphere than all this rhetoric, the sixth and next-to-last round of negotiations for a new North American Free Trade Agreement concluded in Montreal without significant progress. If negotiators cannot reach a new agreement in the final round of talks in Mexico, the economies of the U.S., Mexico and Canada could be in for major shock waves. Time is running out.
Stay tuned.
By Robert Adams
