It’s no surprise that Bush’s trip to Mexico last week was widely characterized as “style over substance.” The eight-hour visit produced no specific accords. And, for Bush, it was the diplomatic equivalent of barely dipping one’s toe in foreign waters: the president retreated across the border to spend the night at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. But the trip, nonetheless, hinted at the kind of foreign policy the new U.S. president hopes to pursue. For one thing, it showcased Bush’s intention to make Mexico, and the Western Hemisphere in general, a centerpiece of his foreign policy. (Bush spent 30 minutes with the State Department’s Mexico desk officers before the trip–the first time that anyone could remember a president’s meeting with such low-level functionaries since John F. Kennedy.) That approach stands in contrast to the globalist predilections of Bush’s predecessor, Bill Clinton, who was the most widely traveled president in history, flying to more than 60 countries. “I think it’s going to be a good signal to the Mexicans, and others in our hemisphere, that the best foreign policy starts at home,” Bush told reporters before his trip. “We’ve got to have good relations in our hemisphere.”
That may be true. Among the issues Bush and Fox discussed were the immigration and drug-trafficking problems created by Mexico’s 2,100-mile border with its northern neighbor. Bush also signaled that he would push Congress to drop the annual review of Mexico’s efforts in the drug war known as “certification.” But the United States, as a global power, is expected to project its influence worldwide. While Bush pursues a Latin American free-trade area, for example, the agenda of the much-maligned World Trade Organization is neglected.
Bush’s Mexico jaunt highlighted his interest in a subject he knows well and is comfortable with: energy. Bush, an ex-oilman, has been pushing the idea of importing energy from Mexico to the United States as a cure for future California-style electricity shortages. Since his father first drilled for oil in Mexican territory, the country has slowly opened more loopholes to allow foreigners to build power plants and pipelines. (Enron Corp. and El Paso Corp., two Houston-based companies pushing for Mexico to open up its energy sector, were the biggest oil-and-gas-industry donors to the Bush campaign.) But most industry observers point out that Mexico now imports natural gas from the United States. Moreover, the Mexican Constitution gives the government a monopoly on oil and gas production, as well as electricity distribution. And the demand for energy in the rapidly growing northern part of the country is expanding faster than efforts to meet it. Says David Shields, an energy analyst in Mexico City: “Can you imagine Mexico exporting [energy] to the United States with blackouts at home?”
Above all, the trip displayed the virtues of Bush’s personal diplomacy–as well as its perils. On one hand, the new president charmed his Mexican hosts with the same aplomb he’s displayed on Capitol Hill over the last month. The two leaders, both plain-talking populists, hit it off well. “There was a fast-paced discussion with a lot of back and forth,” says Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, Mexico’s national-security adviser. Bush even met Fox’s mother, Dona Mercedes. (“You look great,” he told her.) For the American president, diplomacy is a highly personal business. “Each nation has a new president, and a new perspective,” Bush said. His trip, while short on substance, was long on giving the world a taste of his perspective.
