{"id":16652,"date":"2018-11-27T17:33:05","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T23:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/?p=16652"},"modified":"2018-11-27T17:33:05","modified_gmt":"2018-11-27T23:33:05","slug":"as-new-mexican-president-takes-office-experts-foresee-rocky-road-in-relations-with-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/as-new-mexican-president-takes-office-experts-foresee-rocky-road-in-relations-with-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"As new Mexican president takes office, experts foresee rocky road in relations with U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston Chronicle \/ Olivia P. Tallet<\/span>\u00a0\/ November 15<\/a><\/p>\n

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Two men with outsized personalities, both intent on bringing dramatic change to their societies. Two countries, side by side, with a long history of friendly trade and sometimes hostile diplomacy.<\/p>\n

As leftist president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes the mantle of the Mexican presidency Dec. 1, political experts, former diplomats and business leaders are bracing for a potential collision with self-styled nationalist President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

The anticipated confrontation between Trump and Lopez Obrador \u2014 commonly called by his initials, AMLO \u2014 could affect Texas more than any other state given the billions of dollars in Lone Star products that are sold south of the border.<\/p>\n

The possible flash points include a changing energy policy, trade protections, increased heroin and methamphetamine trafficking and an abrupt reversal of the Mexican government\u2019s costly campaign to confront the powerful drug cartels. But perhaps the biggest is the bitterness engendered by Trump\u2019s harsh immigration policies and his plan to erect an impenetrable wall along 1,200 miles of U.S.-Mexico border.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a rocky road ahead for the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico and the two presidents,\u201d said Duncan Wood, the director of the Wilson Center\u2019s Mexico Institute, during in a recent visit to Houston.<\/p>\n

Lopez Obrador is a skilled politician who was mayor of Mexico City from 2000 to 2005 and national party leader, running twice for the presidency prior to winning. He and Trump are forceful, charismatic leaders with a populist, anti-establishment bent to their politics and are adept at inflaming the passions of their base supporters. And perhaps more to the point when it comes to a personality contest, \u201cNeither of them likes to be contradicted,\u201d said Wood.<\/p>\n

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Indeed, Trump had reportedly referred to the Mexican president-elect as \u201cJuan Trump,\u201d a recognition of the similarities between him and the populist Mexican politician, according to a story in Americas Quarterly.<\/p>\n

Both leaders have taken unexpected steps to demonstrate their resolve. Lopez Obrador has put Mexico\u2019s $218 million presidential jet up for sale, while Trump earlier renegotiated the price tag of two Air Force One replacements and claimed savings of $1.4 billion.<\/p>\n

But Lopez Obrador has distanced himself from any semblance to Trump, who, in his opinion, \u201cfuels racism \u2026 as a political strategy\u201d and a leader who has done Mexico much damage, according to an interview with the Spanish language TV network Univision.<\/p>\n

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Vice President Mike Pence will lead the U.S. delegation to Mexico to attend Lopez Obrador\u2019s inauguration.<\/p>\n