The outlook for US-LAC relations

Mexico and Central America loom large in US policy towards Latin America, for various reasons. Mexico is particularly important because it is the second largest economy in Latin America (after Brazil) with the added factor that it shares a long border with the US and is closely integrated into the North American supply chain. Over the last three decades links between the two countries have intensified. Mexico has a population of 126m, but as we have seen there are an electorally important additional 37m people of Mexican descent living in the US. Issues of drug trafficking and migration also loom large in the relationship between Central America, Mexico, and the US.