U.S.-Mexico Partnership Will Get More Prickly
Beyond his bluster on migration and trade, Donald Trump actually asked little of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. That will change under Joe Biden.
Biden may give him less to clap about.
Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
A new era in U.S.-Mexico relations has already gotten off to a rocky start. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, better known as AMLO, is one of the few heads of state that has yet to congratulate his soon-to-be U.S. counterpart, Joseph Biden. But whether AMLO likes it or not, change is coming, and Mexico needs to prepare for a broader, deeper and likely tenser relationship between the two nations.
Mexicans harbor a deep distaste for President Donald Trump: Polls show fewer than two in ten approve of the U.S. leader. Nevertheless, their president has been exceptionally warm, even fawning, over his northern counterpart. At Trump’s behest, he redirected a good portion of Mexico’s National Guard from protecting citizens to stopping migrants. AMLO was quick to fly to Washington (his only trip out of the country in his two years as president) to backstop Trump’s candidacy, touting Trump’s respectful treatment of Mexico, despite much evidence that it was anything but.