Mexico-U.S. Relations: Big Initiatives Can Cause Big Problems

The United States recently "discovered" Mexico. Potential oil reserves of 200 billion barrels helped focus our attention and sparked interest in forging some kind of special relationship with our southern neighbor. Concrete proposals range from a North American Accord or Common Market to less dramatic package deals that would swap petroleum for increased Mexican access to U.S. markets.

Unfortunately our timing is off. For years Mexico hoped our nearly 3,000-mile shared border would bring it special benefits. Instead it brought invasions, four occupations and the loss of half its territory to the United States. Now that Mexico has oil, its need for a special relationship with the United States is less compelling than ever before. Mexico may change its attitude as it gets accustomed to its new status, but in the meantime, U.S. initiatives for ambitious bilateral schemes are counterproductive. At this time of transition in Mexico-U.S. relations we could accomplish more if we tried to do less.

On the other hand, a prolonged oil glut may cause us to go too far in the opposite direction. Without an energy crisis, we may once again lose interest in Mexico. This would be extremely shortsighted since Mexico's importance to the United States transcends its oil. Our principal and permanent interest is a stable and prosperous Mexico. The power to achieve this is in the hands of the Mexicans. U.S. neglect, however, like excessive enthusiasm, makes their task more difficult by adding a rocky bilateral relationship to their list of problems.