The proposals of a new electrical bill in Mexico endangers the long-lasting relationship between Mexico and the United States. Both Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) have a long path ahead of them if maintaining this relationship well is among their interests. The recent decision makings of current Mexican President AMLO had brought discontent amongst the public. In a nutshell, his new bill proposes to take up to 56% of all domains in the production and distribution of electricity around the country. This would affect national and US private companies, but most importantly it imposes a hazard to the geopolitical relationship between the two countries.
The United States and Mexico have maintained a fairly good relationship throughout the years. Although they are often challenged with misdemeanors, especially in the migration field, they have maintained a productive economy together. According to El Universal, 80.5% of Mexican exportations go to the US, representing 13.3% of what the US imports, making Mexico the second highest exporter to the US. Most of these exchanges of goods come from the Federal Transit Administration between Mexico, the US, and Canada. With the arrival of a new administration in the US government, there was hope to better the relationship between countries.
Despite this, the situation looks crumbly because of the Mexican government’s actions on this particular bill. Ken Salazar, US Ambassador in Mexico said, “Regarding the electricity bill, we have to see how to follow up because companies have invested in renewable energy with US backing, they have invested more than a billion dollars. Then, of course, they are worried.” This new bill imposes a decrease in progress towards new sources of clean energy. The harsh truth is that the companies are not happy about this because it imposes a new form of totalitarianism in the country. This government is slowly imposing rules that lead towards communism, one that is led by only one power, i.e a dictatorship.
Many are asking what is next for the US Government and its relationship with Mexico. I do not think that it would be in the best interest of the US to have a problematic neighbor led by a dictator. This was the main topic of a very controversial article by the Economist titled “Mexico’s False Messiah.” The article questioned the US’s lack of response to the actions of the Mexican president in his short period of time. The lack of response by President Biden has made people wonder if he had given up on the relationship between both countries. It is clear that the problems in Mexico will never top the agenda of Biden, but to what extent is he willing to not respond given that Mexico is one of the two neighboring countries of the US is an important question. This puts the relationship into a complex spot giving the administration another challenge to face in these upcoming years.
A worsening US-Mexico relationship would become a lose-lose situation, but it puts Mexico into the worse spot given that we need more from the US than what the US needs from us. If the bill proceeds, it will put Mexico years behind the development of renewable energy in comparison to the US and most countries in the world. The only thing left to do is wait and hope that the discussion between the two countries results in an agreement that will not only benefit both parties but stabilize US-Mexico relations.