Calderon proposes 'strategic alliance' with U.S.

By STEWART M. POWELL and DUDLEY ALTHAUS Copyright 2009 Washington Bureau
Jan. 12, 2009, 3:39PM

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama today symbolically elevated U.S.-Mexico relations to the top of his foreign agenda by staging his first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader since the election with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Calderon, speaking with reporters in Spanish after the meeting, said, “I’ve proposed to President Obama that we make a strategic alliance of our two governments to confront the common problems and resolve them together, among them security.â€