Not joking. The USA can take Mexico anytime, but they hardly could keep it. Also, the USA does not rule in Mexico, at least not openly. If you take that USA meddling in other countries affairs is enough to call it a colony, well, then everyone in the world is a colony of the USA. NAFTA was a trade agreement, but it was contingent to whatever is agreed between governments, not whatever the US government says. The renegotiation of NAFTA, the USMCA, is proof of this. If the USA government thinks countries in the world do not have options to trade, it’s their mistake. At this point they can be replaced, but that doesn’t help anybody in North America.
Not joking. The USA can take Mexico anytime, but they hardly could keep it. Also, the USA does not rule in Mexico, at least not openly. If you take that USA meddling in other countries affairs is enough to call it a colony, well, then everyone in the world is a colony of the USA. NAFTA was a trade agreement, but it was contingent to whatever is agreed between governments, not whatever the US government says. The renegotiation of NAFTA, the USMCA, is proof of this. If the USA government thinks countries in the world do not have options to trade, it’s their mistake. At this point they can be replaced, but that doesn’t help anybody in North America.
Any country that is not prepared to get the Venezuala/Cuba/Iran/Russia/North Korea treatment will do what the US tells it.