WASHINGTON — They face constraints that limit prospects for immediate results, but President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox appear determined this week to begin remaking the U.S.-Mexican relationship in ways that could have powerful repercussions for both countries in coming years.
Each side has played down the chances of breakthroughs on key issues such as migration, and the focus will be on pomp and ceremony after Fox's arrival Tuesday in Washington for the first state visit of Bush's administration. Domestic politics on both sides of the border and the forces of history work against instant agreements.
But the combination of a Mexican president with unprecedented political legitimacy and a U.S. president from a border state who feels comfortable with Mexico creates a timely opening for teamwork on big strategic issues. Both presidents have said they don't want to miss the opportunity.
The 2,000-mile border, fraught with social and environmental problems caused by soaring, uncontrolled growth, could become a focal point for initial progress. Mexico will propose a joint border development planning commission to handle such thorny problems as managing scarce water supplies and building new bridges to accommodate the drastic increase in trade since the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect in 1994.
"NAFTA-plus" is how Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister Enrique Berruga describes the next phase of the relationship.
According to Harvard University professor Jorge Dominguez, author of a new book on U.S.-Mexican relations: "The audaciousness of the 1980s changed the commercial relationship. Now, the audaciousness of the Bush and Fox administrations is changing the bilateral agenda. This is an extraordinary moment for U.S.-Mexican relations."
But Dominguez said the friendship between two rancher presidents will not be enough.
"Only by creating new rules and new institutions will the change be consolidated," he said.
Efforts are certain to be plagued by political sniping in Mexico and the United States. Many Mexicans are leery of growing too close to the powerful U.S., and many Americans are skeptical of too close an integration with Mexico, which they fear could lead to a flood of immigration from their much poorer southern neighbor.
The political rewards for both presidents, however, could be substantial.
