{
  "id": "RL33244",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL33244",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 311793,
      "date": "2006-01-18",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:20:25.751029",
      "title": "Mexico's Importance and Multiple Relationships with the United States",
      "summary": "This report provides information on the importance of Mexico to U.S. interests and catalogues\nthe\nmany ways Mexico and the United States interact. The report is a snapshot of the bilateral\nrelationship at the beginning of 2006. It will not be updated on a regular basis.\n Sharing a 2,000-mile border and extensive interconnections through the Gulf of Mexico, the\nUnited States and Mexico are so intricately linked together in an enormous multiplicity of ways that\nPresident George W. Bush and other U.S. officials have stated that no country is more important to\nthe United States than Mexico. At the same time, Mexican President Vicente Fox (2000-2006), the\nfirst president to be elected from an opposition party in 71 years, has sought to strengthen the\nrelationship with the United States through what some have called a \"grand bargain.\" Under this\nproposed bargain, the United States would regularize the status of undocumented Mexican workers\nin the United States and economically assist the less developed partner in the North American Free\nTrade Agreement (NAFTA), while Mexico would be more cooperative in efforts to control the\nillegal traffic of drugs, people, and goods into the United States.\n The southern neighbor is linked with the United States through trade and investment, migration\nand tourism, environment and health concerns, and family and cultural relationships. It is the second\nmost important trading partner of the United States, and this trade is critical to many U.S. industries\nand border communities. It is a major source of undocumented migrants and illicit drugs and a\npossible avenue for the entry of terrorists into the United States. As a result, cooperation with\nMexico is essential to deal effectively with migration, drug trafficking, and border, terrorism, health,\nenvironment, and energy issues.\n The United States and Mexico have developed a wide variety of mechanisms for consultation\nand cooperation on the range of issues in which the countries interact. These include (1) periodical\npresidential meetings; (2) annual cabinet-level Binational Commission meetings with 10 Working\nGroups on major issues; (3) annual meetings of congressional delegations in the Mexico-United\nStates Interparliamentary Group Conferences; (4) NAFTA-related trilateral trade meetings under\nvarious groups; (5) regular meetings of the Attorneys General and the Senior Law Enforcement\nPlenary to deal with law enforcement and counter-narcotics matters; (6) a wide variety of bilateral\nborder area cooperation meetings dealing with environment, health, transportation, and border\ncrossing issues; and (7) trilateral meetings under the \"Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of\nNorth America\" launched in Waco, Texas, in March 2005.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL33244",
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs"
  ]
}