Mexico-U.S. Relations: Issues for the 108th Congress

Publication Date: October 2004

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

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Coverage: Mexico

Abstract:

The United States and Mexico have a special relationship as neighbors and partners under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The friendly relationship has been strengthened by President Bush's meetings with President Fox but has been weakened by disagreements over Iraq and other issues. Major congressional issues are trade, migration/border security, drug trafficking, and political issues.

Trade. Since 1994, NAFTA institutions have been functioning, trade between the countries has tripled, and allegations of violations of labor and environmental laws have been considered. The Bush Administration has argued that NAFTA has had modest positive impacts on all three member countries, but Mexican farmers have strongly criticized the effects of NAFTA. Recent trade disputes with Mexico have involved trucking, telecommunications, tuna, sweeteners and sugar.

Migration/Border Security. In February 2001, Presidents Bush and Fox agreed to establish high-level talks to ensure safe, legal, and orderly migration flows between the countries, but the talks stalled after the September 2001 terrorist attacks, and border controls were later strengthened under the new Department of Homeland Security. In May 2003, following the deaths of 19 migrants in Texas, the countries agreed on joint measures to warn migrants of the dangers, and to prosecute smugglers. In January 2004, President Bush proposed a major immigration reform "to match willing foreign workers with willing U.S. employers when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs." The separate House and Senate versions of S. 2845, passed in October 2004, to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations, contain differing measures to increase immigration law enforcement personnel and to adopt more stringent border control and identity document standards.

Drug Trafficking. Bush Administration officials have regularly praised Mexico's counter-narcotics efforts under Fox, especially action against major traffickers, and have characterized the bilateral cooperation in this area as unprecedented. The State Department reported in April 2004, however, that marijuana and opium poppy cultivation increased significantly in Mexico in 2003. In recent law enforcement actions, on October 19, 2004, DEA officials announced the dismantling, through Operation Money Clip, of a major Mexican moneylaundering and drug trafficking organization operating in the United States.

Political and Human Rights. In nation-wide elections on July 6, 2003, to renew the Chamber of Deputies, President Fox's PAN fared poorly, while the previously dominant PRI and the leftist PRD increased representation, making congressional approval of President Fox's reform measures less likely. On human rights issues, President Fox has designated special prosecutors to prosecute those responsible for human rights abuses in the 1970s and 1980s, but little progress has been made, and local elections are being held in an environment in which the parties are positioning themselves for the July 2006 presidential elections.