ABSTRACT
This chapter examines that international factors were the key explanations for the patterns in US Mexican relations during the first decade of the twenty-first century but that domestic considerations in both countries and transnational relationships. Then, it argues that the effectiveness in the management of bilateral US Mexican relations depended on the presence or absence of institutions and procedures. The chapter examines the ongoing positive trend of bilateral economic relations including but not limited to the workings of NAFTA, and then look at security and migration issues, taking note of the domestic context for foreign policy decision making. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) facilitated cross-border private direct investment. Nevertheless, NAFTA's approach to liberal economic integration through legalization has generated valuable shared public goods for Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The significant expansion of trade and investment, depoliticizing these processes and settling the normal disputes to which they give rise from time to time.
