Earl Anthony Wayne: The US-Mexico Relationship — It’s Complicated

ABSTRACT

Earl Anthony Wayne will discuss the important and complicated relationship between Mexico and the United States.  No country relationship touches the daily lives of more Americans than the relationship with our southern neighbor.  Mexico is a vital economic partner as America's second largest trading partner and the largest buyer of U.S. exports.  Yet, Mexico and the U.S. also need to manage incredibly challenging problems surrounding migration and cross-border crime, for example.  Getting cooperation right between the two neighbors is a particularly tricky task but there are no ways around working to make it better — neither of us can move away!

BIOGRAPHY

Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne is a Distinguished Diplomat in Residence teaching at American University’s School of International Service.  He is also a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Co-Chair of its Mexico Institute Advisory Board.  He is a Senior Non-Resident Advisor at the Atlantic Council and at the Center for Security and International Studies and serves on the Board of the American Academy of Diplomacy.  Wayne writes, speaks and consults on a wide range of topics. 

Ambassador Wayne served as a US diplomat from 1975 to 2015, including as the U.S. Ambassador to Argentina (2006-2009), the Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs and Deputy U.S. Ambassador in Kabul, Afghanistan (2009-2011), and the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico (2011- 15).  He was the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs (EB) under three Secretaries of State (2000-2006). The U.S. Senate confirmed him as a Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the US Foreign Service, in 2010.

He received multiple honors during his government service, including the 2017 Director General’s Cup for the Foreign Service and the 2015 Cobb Award for Initiative and Success in Trade Development.  Wayne received an MPA from Harvard University’s JFK School of Government, MAs from Princeton University and Stanford University, and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley.

Wayne’s webpage, www.eawayne.com, includes articles, talks and interviews.