Thread: Missouri looks to Mexico

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Missouri looks to Mexico
Wire services
El Universal

Domingo 11 de febrero de 2007


Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt will lead a trade mission to Mexico this week to discuss plans for a Mexican customs clearinghouse in Kansas City


Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt will lead a trade mission to Mexico this week to discuss plans for a Mexican customs clearinghouse in Kansas City.
Blunt is to meet Monday with President Felipe Calderón, other officials and U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza. Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson said the trip had been planned for some time. Although discussions will focus on Kansas City, she said, immigration and other trade topics might come up.

The Missouri General Assembly is considering legislation that would sanction employers and landlords of illegal immigrants.

"As Missouri´s second-largest trading partner, Mexico is a very important market for our state," Blunt said.

Missouri exports to Mexico topped US$1.15 billion in 2005, with agriculture leading the list of goods. Data for last year is not available yet.

"Our business ties extend over decades," Blunt said. "And I am hopeful that a new customs port facility in Kansas City focused on U.S. exports to Mexico will open the door not only for many more years of continued business success between us, but also for new Missouri jobs and the opportunity to expand our position in the global economy."

At one time, Kansas City SmartPort Inc., a nonprofit coalition of shippers, warehouse operators and others, was optimistic that a customs facility would be built and leased by mid-2006 to Mexican authorities on city- owned land near Kemper Arena.

But the three-year-old project appears to be progressing slowly through U.S. diplomatic channels. "It´s not on anybody´s front burner," Bill Anthony, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection in the Department of Homeland Security, recently told The Star.

If approved, the facility would be the first foreign customs house on U.S. soil. Billed as a regional trade funnel, it would allow Canadian and Midwestern exports to be cleared through Kansas City instead of the crowded Mexican border, improving efficiency and cutting shippers´ costs.




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Are any citizens bucking this there? Are they jumping all over that governor?

Originally Posted by moosetracks

Are any citizens bucking this there? Are they jumping all over that governor?

from what I hear from friends back home (kc area) it is just now getting media attention and the outrage of the public that comes with that attention.