Since the Mexican-American war ended in 1848, the United States and Mexico have enjoyed a fruitful relationship. Trade between the two nations provides America a lucrative foreign market, and Mexico vital investment and capital. Immigration merged America and Mexico’s cuisines, creating the frankly delicious “Tex-Mex” culinary style. The two countries cooperate to solve a variety of issues ranging from the environment to security. Yet today their relationship is at risk. How does this reflect America’s new foreign policy?

Start with trade and economics. In early June the US president, Donald Trump, threatened Mexico with tariffs, stipulating that the country crack down on undocumented migrants entering the US. That Donald Trump threatened another country with tariffs is not surprising—witness the trade war he wages with China. But the context in which he planned using tariffs is: Donald Trump did not wish to instigate a trade war with Mexico for an economic reason. He wanted to for a political one: to force Mexico to curb the arrival of undocumented migrants into the USA. The president’s thought process reflects a change in America’s use of economic deterrence: that tariffs can be used to solve issues going beyond economics.

America’s new policies towards Mexico also demonstrate America’s new foreign policy doctrine: unilateralism. President Trump does not regard undocumented immigration as a problem for both the US and Mexico; he thinks it unique to the USA, and does not think that cooperation between the two nations will benefit American interests. In the 1980’s Reagan proposed working

with Mexico to limit its unemployment, thereby reducing illegal immigration. The idea benefits Mexico by curtailing labor flights to the US, and reassures American communities worried about Mexican labor overwhelming their job markets. Trump’s proposed border wall—and his constant demand for Mexico to pay for it—shows his conviction that Mexico is at fault for the issue and stands nothing to gain from resolving it. It is once again proof of his thinking that the world is, for some reason, rigged against America, and that America must solely look out for its one interests.

America’s new attitude towards Mexico puts trade, the environment and immigration at risk through limiting cooperation between the two states. It mirrors the Donald Trump’s foreign policy thinking: that the US should use its strong economic position to bully nations into submission to American plans; and that cooperation between America and other countries is futile and undermines US interests. Repairing the damage he causes won’t be easy. And we haven’t even started.