Special Report: America first: the challenge for Mexico (ISSN 17414474)

Looking forward, the challenge for Mexico in its response to an ‘America first’ US presidency will be strongly influenced by the political and electoral timetable. With four-year and six-year presidential terms respectively in the United States and in Mexico, there will always be a cycle of overlapping administrations and political transitions across the two countries. Mexico’s current president, Enrique Peña Nieto, took office in December 2012 and will serve until 1 December 2018. That means that he had Barrack Obama as his opposite number in Washington for his first four years, and will have to deal with Donald Trump in the last two. Peña Nieto’s relationship with Trump has had to be articulated initially under unfavourable circumstances: at home the Mexican president’s popularity ratings have been falling since before 2016, eroded by sluggish economic growth, allegations of corruption, and a poor record in the struggle to reduce crime and improve respect for human rights.