ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the practice of US economic statecraft toward Mexico through the lenses of a "thick" economic statecraft approach; it is divided into three main sections, each corresponding to the sub-period established in the introduction (1971-1989, 1990-2000, 2001-2016), and a concluding section. The chapter reviews both regular and contentious moments in the political economy of Mexico-U.S. economic relations. Among the instances examined are Washington's reaction to Mexico's first attempt at GATT membership in the late 1970s, the negotiations leading to the North American Free Trade Agreement in the early 1990s, and the discussions regarding cross-border trucking access in the first decade-and-a-half of this century. The cases reviewed illustrate both the fluid nature of US power as well as its relational nature and authoritative components.
