Guidelines for the Rethinking of us-Mexico Relations

The taking of office of a new presidential administration in the United States affords Mexico an invaluable opportunity to rethink its relations with its neighbor, with a view to coming up with an agenda that picks up on common development issues and priorities. In his essay, José Octavio Tripp proposes a new neighborly model or “new understanding” as he calls it, which would pave the way for a qualitative improvement in the us-Mexico integration process. Development is endorsed as a mainstay of this new understanding and a driving force of the North American integration process, to which three instruments are deemed vital: a) the concept of “sustainable security”; b) a cooperative approach to the handling of common problems which, in the words of Hillary Clinton, require “collective action”, and c) public spending provisions for projects of benefit to both countries. In this context, Mexico would propose the construction of water networks on the border, encouraging the sustainable use of a resource as crucial as water, while creating “green jobs” and promoting social wellbeing. A similar logic would apply to the coordination of highway nodes, which, aside from creating jobs, would improve interconnectivity and make us more competitive as a region. Cooperation would range from the joint planning of works on either side of the Rio Grande to the design and execution of co-investment projects for the upgrading of ports and airports and the creation of sub-regional hi-tech electronics and aerospace cluster developments capable of creating economies of scale. A modus vivendi such as this, whose equation combines traditional elements of the integration process with emerging assets, would imply a qualitative leap in us-Mexico relations. Paradoxically, the current economic crisis calls for greater creativity.