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Washington,
May 19 – With fanfare, trumpets and drummers, President Obama welcomed Mexican President Felipe
Calderón to Washington
Wednesday. Here on a two-day state visit which will include an address to
Congress Thursday, Calderón echoed Obama in stressing that “The United States
and Mexico are nations that trade, dialogue, and complement each other
economically and mutually.”
In their opening statements,
an afternoon press conference, and a joint communiqué, the two presidents repeatedly
mentioned the importance of working together on a variety of economic,
border-control, immigration, anti-drug and climate change initiatives. In one
of his frequent mentions of the importance of job creation, Obama said that “The
trade and tourism between us creates jobs and prosperity for both our peoples.”
He added that “Mexico is one
of our largest trading partners, with trade that supports countless jobs here
in America and in Mexico. And
because 80 percent of the trade passes over our land border, we reaffirmed our
commitment to a 21st century border that is modern, secure and efficient. And
we’re directing our governments to develop an action plan to move in this
direction, because our shared border must be an engine, and not a brake, on our
economic growth.”
Mexican President Felipe Calderón addressing a special U.S. Chamber of Commerce meeting to honor his
state visit to Washington, DC. Photo: Agri-Pulse.
Obama did not mention last
year’s congressional action which ended the pilot program which had allowed
Mexican trucks to operate in the U.S., as required under the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – but Calderón did. The Mexican President
said that his private discussions with Obama Wednesday morning covered “the
different obstacles that are there for complying with transportation
obligations that have been established at NAFTA, a situation that impacts jobs,
companies and consumers in Mexico
and in the United States.
And we shall work in order to achieve a quick solution with a constructive,
creative solution in the long term in this and many other areas.”
Obama did mention renewable
energy several times, as in his remark that “To create clean energy jobs and
industries of the future, we’re building on a partnership we launched last year
with new initiatives to promote regional renewable energy markets, green
buildings and smart grid technology.” He said this partnership will support “increasing
grid reliability and resiliency, including collaboration on smart grid
standards and technology to make energy use more efficient and reliable in both
Mexico and the United States.”
Obama noted that in response
to the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout, the two countries will work together “to
seek a moratorium on exploitation activities along the maritime boundary in the
Western Gap in the Gulf of Mexico.”
The presidents also pledged
cooperation in tightening security along a “Twenty-First Century Border” and fighting
transnational organized crime by reducing U.S.
demand for drugs and taking more measures in the U.S.
to limit the flow of cash and weapons to drug gangs in Mexico.
Both
presidents agreed on the need to have Congress pass comprehensive immigration
reform legislation which Obama indicated should include a long-term pathway to
citizenship for migrants once they’ve paid all back taxes and complied with
other obligations. They agreed that Arizona’s
recent law targeting illegal aliens, as Obama said, “has the potential of being
applied in a discriminatory fashion.” They indicated that Arizona is taking the
wrong approach to a persistent problem which calls for a more comprehensive
federal response. But Obama said solving the problem presents a “political
challenge.” He explained that to pass comprehensive immigration reform, “I have
confidence that I can get the majority of Democrats, both in the House and the
Senate, to support a piece of legislation of the sort that I just described.
But I don’t have 60 votes in the Senate. I’ve got to have some support from
Republicans.”
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