Issues in International Political Economy: The Fence as a Metaphor for How the United States Views its Relations with Mexico

October 17, 2006

A ubiquitous word in the writings of Mexican intellectuals when they describe their country’s relations with the United States is “asymmetry.” The asymmetry is evident: the United States is a world power, Mexico is at best a regional one; U.S. troops are engaged in hot combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Mexico eschews foreign military engagement; U.S. gross domestic product is 16 times larger than that of Mexico; U.S. GDP per capita in purchasing power parity terms is $42,000 and that of Mexico is $10,000; the United States’ population is almost three times the size of Mexico’s; U.S. merchandise imports from Mexico are 0.14 percent of U.S. GDP, but viewed from Mexico, these exports make up 22 percent of Mexico’s GDP.