Mexican-U.S. Relations

Report Outline
Strains Across the Border
Foreign Influences on Mexico
Quest for Recovery and Reform

Strains Across the Border

Old Issues Inherited by New Presidents

The most conspicuous absentee among the 15 Latin American chiefs of state who witnessed the signing of the Panama Canal treaties in Washington this month was the President of Mexico, José López Portillo. Whether his absence was due to the press of official business, as announced in Mexico City, or to Mexico's dissatisfaction with the treaties, as reported in Washington, López Portillo's decision not to participate clearly nettled the Carter administration, which was seeking to create an image of Latin American solidarity on the Canal issue.

The course of U.S.-Mexican relations has seldom run smooth. In earlier times the United States sent military expeditions into Mexico, occupied the capital for nearly a year and seized half of the new country's territory. Today a love-hate relationship exists on both sides of the 2,000-mile border, intensified by Mexico's overwhelming economic dependence on the United States and by the enormous gap in wealth and living standards between the two countries.

With this in mind, one of President Carter's first foreign policy initiatives was toward Mexico. In February, López Portillo visited Washington, the first chief of state to be received by Carter after his inauguration. Both leaders had only recently assumed office and both spoke glowingly of a new era in relations between the two countries. “I am willing to go farther than what courtesy and diplomatic protocol call for to cooperate with you,” Carter told López. In reply, the Mexican President stressed the opportunity for a joint attack on problems facing the two nations.