A Marriage of Convenience Relations Between Mexico and the United States

The relationship between Mexico and the United States has never been an easy one. Mexicans often approach the relationship based on resentment of their rich and powerful neighbor, while U.S. attitudes and policy often seem formed under the aegis of what Octavio Paz has called “the twin sisters of ignorance and arrogance.” In this comprehensive account of recent developments in the relationship, and the way in which internal developments in each country have affected the other, Sidney Weintraub helps dispel any doubt about each country’s importance to the other– and hence the importance of relations based on mutual respect and a realistic assessment of each other’s needs.
Adding to the difficulties is the enormous disparity in wealth between the two countries, together with differences in cultural and historical traditions. Public officials in each country have a perceived need to formulate policy on the basis of its appeal to domestic prejudices. Weintraub shows how misunderstandings growing out of these tendencies have exacerbated substantive problems between Mexico and the United States of trade, foreign debt, industrial development, unemployment and migration, drug trafficking, and environmental despoliation. He offers recommendations for arriving at solutions beneficial to both countries. The chapters on relations at the border and on migration patterns between the two countries make particularly clear that cultural and economic integration have grown rapidly, often in spite of official policies in both countries designed to keep this from happening, and point to a future of more rather than less interdependence. This book provides a solid framework for discussion of how best to negotiate this increasing–and crucial–integration.