Important U.S. Relations: Canada and Mexico

As Election Season comes closer to a close—one way or another—it’s interesting to reflect on the ‘important’ issues of today as compared to the not-so-distant past, especially when it comes to foreign policy and relations. On Monday, October 22^nd, President Obama and Governor Romney tussled over foreign policy in the third and final presidential debate.

Far off countries like Iran, Israel, China, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, and Egypt were hot-topics, but our nearest-to-home foreign neighbors—Canada and Mexico—were nowhere in sight. Surprising? Not really, considering the U.S. and Canada and the U.S. and Mexico are on reasonably good terms.

That wasn’t always the case, though. Before the U.S. and Canada were united by their similar policies during the Cold War, their relationship had been strained for various reasons—trading dispute, environmental issues, the export of oil, illegal immigration, and the threat of terrorism. In an essay on the very topic of Canada-United States Relations, economists Marie-Josee Drouin and Harald Malmgren were of the opinion that “the two governments seem[ed] to be on a collision course.”

These days, though, Canada and the U.S. are close allies; they are the world’s largest trading partners and have the world’s longest land border. Foreign policies have generally aligned in recent years as well, so the need debate about foreign policy between the two isn’t really present.

Similarly, the relationship between Mexico and the United States is much more stable than in the past. There have been some disputes over illegal immigration and illegal drug and weapons trading, but the two governments are cooperating with each other.

And while in 1800s Mexico was a main part of the foreign policy agenda (i.e. the Mexican-American War), the two countries haven’t had many serious disputes since. Mexico, like Canada shares significant economic ties with the United States.

Linda Valdez, however, argues that “The stability of our southern neighbor is a legitimate national safety concern as drug cartels run wild. How is the United States going to keep Mexico from becoming a narco-state? That’s a much bigger worry than the ‘invasion’ of maids and busboys the GOP freaks about.”

There is an essential piece of advice to take from Valdez’s comments, whether you agree with them or not: It’s important to keep an eye on what goes on in our own neighborhood—close to home—as well as down the block. At the end of the day, we’ve got to remember that because Canada and Mexico are two very close, very large countries around the U.S., maintaining a healthy relationship with them is a necessity—whether they show up in our foreign policy debates or not.