On the eve of President Obama's visit to Mexico, Robert Siegel speaks with Arturo Sarukhan, former Mexican ambassador to the United States. They discuss the security situation in Mexico, the prospects for immigration reform and the trade agreements shared by the two countries.

Just over a year ago, as President Enrique Peña Nieto started his administration, the domestic and international press were touting “Mexico’s moment” and the rise of “the Aztec tiger.” Now, the naysayers have returned. Their pessimism stems in part from disappointing economic results: Mexico’s GDP growth has fallen, from nearly four percent in 2012 to around an estimated one percent in 2013.

In 1993, Vice President Al Gore made the unprecedented move of debating businessman and former presidential candidate Ross Perot regarding the merits of the North American Free Trade Agreement on CNN's Larry King Live.

Pass through the gates of the Bombardier plant in Querétaro and you leave the Mexico of potholed roads and blaring horns behind: welcome to a strangely serene place called North America. In the car park neat lines of vehicles all face the same way—almost unthinkable elsewhere in Mexico.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a free trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico that has created a $19 trillion market with 460 million consumers. It isn’t merely the size of NAFTA that makes it remarkable but also the fact that it was the first U.S. trade agreement that included both developed and developing countries.

January 1, 2014 marks 20 years since the Zapatista rebels rose up in arms and drew the world's attention to the plight of Mexico's impoverished indigenous population. January 1, 2014 marks 20 years since the Zapatista rebels rose up in arms and drew the world's attention to the plight of Mexico's impoverished indigenous population.

In his 2009 book, “The Next 100 Years,” George Friedman, the founder of Stratfor, wrote that by the end of the century Mexico will be the main power challenging the U.S. With $500 billion in trade with the U.S. (up from $75 billion two decades ago), with Mexicans spending twice as much on U.S. products as the Chinese, with over 33 million U.S. residents of Mexican origin, with the most frequently crossed international border in the world, it would be irresponsible to wait until the end of the century to pay attention to Mexico.

During the "Public Diplomacy of the Americas" conference hosted by the USC Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars, former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhán discussed U.S.- Mexico relations, highlighting the importance of increasing the digital component of Mexico's diplomacy to deal with issues such as trade relations, transnational crime, and immigration.