W

hen President Barack Obama addressed Mexican students at the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City in May 2013, he had high hopes for the growth of the Mexican economy. “In fact, I see a Mexico that has lifted millions from poverty,” Obama said. “Because of the sacrifices of generations, a majority of Mexicans now call themselves middle class, with a quality of life that your parents and grandparents could only dream of.”

While this may be true, data gathered by the Center for Economic and Policy Research in a report published in February 2014 indicates that poverty levels are, percentage wise, about the same as in 1994, when the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Mexico took effect. According to this report, this translates to an increase of approximately 14 million people living under the poverty line in 2012 compared to 1994. 

While some sources may point to NAFTA as a primary cause for Mexico’s economic decline—with various subsidies and economic policies that made it difficult for Mexican industries to compete—not all of Mexico’s economic decline in the past two decades can be attributed to NAFTA. Mexico has suffered its own crises, including the currency crisis of 1994, when the Mexican peso suffered a quick and dramatic drop in value. 

But because Mexico does rely so heavily on the U.S. for its markets, financial downturns such as the housing crisis of 2006-2007 and the recession of 2009 have also hurt the Mexican economy. 

Since 2005, government leaders from the U.S., Canada and Mexico have met annually at the North American Leaders Summit to discuss ways to become better partners in the NAFTA agreement. 

The most recent summit took place in Toluca, Mexico, on Feb. 19 when Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to discuss an agenda that included better economic policies, energy reform and regulatory cooperation. 

While immigration and the war on drugs remain important issues of concern between Mexico and the U.S., Peña Nieto has emphasized improvements in the economy as a primary means of treating Mexico’s emigration epidemic of the past couple decades. 

In his first two years of office, Peña Nieto has opened up the oil and gas industry in Mexico to foreign investment and taken measures to combat monopolies, among other economic policies. He has also taken strides to engage in more foreign trade, and is actively involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement that, if approved, would increase trade options with pacific territories such as Japan and China. 

In addition to economic policies, Peña Nieto has also taken some steps toward fighting corruption. While campaigning in early 2014, he established the National Anti-Corruption Commission. 

However, the disappearance of 43 students abducted by police during a protest in September 2014 appeared to throw all vows to fight corruption out the window. According to Univision Noticias, it was later discovered that the mayor’s wife who called in the police to disrupt the protest had familial ties to Guerreros Unidos, a local drug trafficking group responsible for killing the students. 

Following this mysterious disappearance, Peña Nieto did not give a statement reaching out the families immediately after the incident, and police offered no concrete statement as to what happened to the students. A congressman in a press conference is noted as saying, “Ya me cansé,” which translates to “That’s it. I’m done.” This phrase became a rally cry across social media and in protests. 

Finally, in December, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Peña Nieto and agreed to help the Mexican president in establishing a separate police force specifically to fight corruption. 

This, however, comes at a time when Peña Nieto’s spending has recently come under fire from the Mexican people.

Jorge Ramos, a renowned Mexican journalist who won the 2014 Burton Benjamin Award for lifetime achievement in journalism, said in his acceptance speech, “There is a huge conflict of interest in Mexico. A government contractor is financing the $7 million home of the president’s wife. That’s not saving Mexico. That’s corruption.” 

Mexico’s disdain for Peña Nieto’s response to the disappearance of the 43 students and the construction of the Casa Blanca for his wife led students to demand that Peña Nieto resign in December. Peña Nieto did not resign, instead meeting with John Kerry and, most recently, Obama in Washington—a meeting greeted by a wave of protests in the American capital district. 

Have U.S. relations with Mexico improved since Obama and, more specifically, Peña Nieto, took office? One could argue yes, based on new committees, programs and initiatives aimed to ignite the two economies. These events and meetings should be taken with a grain of salt, however.