Article content continued

On the surface, our bilateral relationship with Mexico is in better shape than the one with Canada. But apart from continued security assistance through the Bush-era Merida Initiative, there is not much to talk about. Although the two countries created a high-level economic dialogue in 2013 with lofty goals, its output has been an assortment of average achievements: shorter border wait times, student exchange programs and “entrepreneurship training sessions.”

After the failure to secure a permanent immigration deal with Congress, Obama has delivered nothing of real value to the Mexicans. Peña Nieto’s last meeting with Obama was noticeably void of substance and focused on mid-level issues. “Baby steps,” said one Mexico expert. Not surprisingly, Mexico is taking its trade business elsewhere. It has used its 40 bilateral free-trade agreements with other countries as a magnet for high-skilled manufacturing that might have located in the United States. In the past six years, at least seven major auto manufacturers have built plants or expanded facilities in Mexico.

The annual meetings of the North American “Three Amigos” have become more like the Three Acquaintances.

The trilateral relationship is in even worse shape. The annual meetings of the North American “Three Amigos” have become more like the Three Acquaintances. Canada canceled the 2010 meeting, Mexico pulled out of the 2012 summit and the leaders decided not to meet at all in 2013. Last year’s meeting in Toluca, Mexico, produced disappointingly little. One Canadian commentator summed up the meeting as “not a disaster.” The 2015 summit, to be hosted by Canada, has been postponed until “later in the year” at a location to be determined, according to Canadian officials.