144. Presidential Review Memorandum/NSC–411
TO
- The Vice President
- The Secretary of State
ALSO
- The Secretary of Defense
- The Secretary of Treasury
- The Attorney General
- The Secretary of Agriculture
- The Secretary of Labor
- The Secretary of Commerce
- The Secretary of Energy
- The Director, Office of Management and Budget
- The United States Representative to the United Nations
- The Special Trade Representative
- Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs
- Administrator, Agency for International Development
- Director of Central Intelligence
- The Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy
SUBJECT
- Review of U.S. Policies Toward Mexico
The President has directed that the Policy Review Committee of the National Security Council undertake a review of U.S. relations with Mexico. The central objective of the review is to develop a coordinated and well integrated approach to our relations with Mexico. To do so, we need to improve our understanding of the interrelationships of the issues which concern our two countries.
The Secretary of State should chair the PRC, and the paper should be prepared and coordinated by an interagency committee organized [Page 315] at the assistant secretary level. The review should provide the basis for a Policy Review Committee meeting by November 1.
The paper to be prepared for the Policy Review Committee meeting should not exceed 20 pages exclusive of appendices, and should concentrate on the longer term prospects for cooperation on the central issues in U.S.-Mexican relations, including immigration, energy (oil, gas, and nuclear), trade (agriculture and industrial), and their impact on overall U.S.-Mexican relations.
Attention should be given to the impact of different bilateral and multilateral policies on patterns of Mexican economic development and on domestic U.S. policies. Reference should be made to the impact of different policies on specific interest groups in the U.S., and on regional concerns of the United States.
In addressing each major issue, the paper should describe the status of policies, and explicitly consider alternative U.S. approaches, to the extent possible estimating the costs and benefits of each for both the U.S. and Mexico. It should relate the issues in U.S.-Mexican relations to each other, identify potential trade-offs between issues, and suggest options, which in effect would represent packages of policies relating to these issues. These options would provide a choice among comprehensive strategies for approaching U.S.-Mexican relations.
Appendices may be used to give more complete information on each issue.
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor, Country, Box 32, Mexico, PRM–41 (Policy), 10/77–11/78. Confidential.↩