Five international organizations: G15 NAFTA OAS OECD RG 

NAFTA has bonded the economies of Mexico and the US. Progress on economic migrants remains stalled, but long-running disputes with the US on tuna and trucking are all but resolved. Huge US farm subsidies remain a great source of bilateral tension following the lifting of most tariffs on agricultural products in 2003, as required under NAFTA. Unable to compete, far poorer Mexican farmers have staged border protests and demanded protection. The Mexican government has promised renegotiation, but the US and Canada remain strongly opposed. Tariffs on Mexican beans and corn are to be removed in 2008.

Under Fox, traditional support for Cuba has diminished in favor of the US. Mexico has free trade agreements with 32 countries, as well as with the EU and EFTA, and competes with Brazil to play a leading negotiating role for Latin America in the formation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) due to be signed in 2005.

From "The Financial Times World Desk Reference" © Dorling Kindersley 2004