There may be no story today with a wider gap between fact and fiction than the relationship between the United States and Mexico.

At a time when some politicians call for building a wall on the border or withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the ties between Mexico and the United States have actually been strengthening, and the boundaries that once separated them are blurring. Today the two countries are much more intertwined than most Americans or Mexicans realize. The two countries benefit from close connections between technology innovators, investors and manufacturers. Mexico also has an increasing influence on U.S. sports, food and film. It’s a story about a deep partnership that deserves more attention, particularly in California where these ties run even deeper. Thanks to a new book by Andrew Selee, one of the leading experts on Mexico, this deep, complex partnership between the two countries is getting a renewed focus right at a time when the policy discussions have become more complicated.

Just days after the presidential election in Mexico and in the wake of trade tensions between Mexico and the United States, Gemi José González López, the consul general of Mexico in San Francisco, will be in conversation with Selee about Selee's new book, Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together. Consul González López has represented Mexico in the Bay Area since 2016.

The discussion will be moderated by Sean Randolph, senior director of the Bay Area Economic Institute, who is an expert in international trade and its impact on the Bay Area. Join us for a special evening on a newsworthy topic too often overlooked in today’s political environment.

Gemi José González López, Ph.D., has served as the consul general of Mexico in San Francisco since June 2016. Gemi José González López graduated with honors from the Escuela Libre de Derecho in Mexico City. Consul González López also holds a master’s in European law from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and another master’s in applied political studies from the FIIAPP-Madrid (International Foundation for Administration and Public Policies). He is a founding partner of the law firm González Fernández Abogados, S.C., as well as the consulting firms Gobernanza Consultores and Global Policy Strategies.

Andrew Selee, Ph.D., is president of the Migration Policy Institute and former executive vice president of the Woodrow Wilson Center, where he founded and directed its Mexico Institute. Selee writes a regular column for Mexico's largest newspaper and has written op-eds for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. He is the author of Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together.

Sean Randolph, Ph.D., is senior director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, where he served as president and CEO from 1998–2015. The Economic Institute is a public-private partnership of business, labor, government and higher education that works to foster a competitive economy in California and the San Francisco Bay Area. Randolph previously served as director of international trade for the state of California (1994–98), where he directed international programs to stimulate exports and introduce California companies to overseas markets.