Thread: Bush meets Mexican president, Canadian PM in NO

Bush meets Mexican president, Canadian PM in NO

Bush meets Mexican president, Canadian PM in NO
by David Hammer, The Times-Picayune
Monday April 21, 2008, 10:36 AM

President Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to New Orleans today to hold one-on-one talks about mutual security and economic issues.


TED JACKSON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
Helen Meridy, 16, a student at Warren Easton High School in New Orleans, gets a kiss on the cheek from President George Bush as he arrives at Armstrong International Airport.

The three leaders are in New Orleans today and tomorrow for the fourth annual North American Leaders' Summit. They didn't tour the city, but Calderon made special mention of his countrymen's role in rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, and Harper said it was his father's "favorite American city."

Bush and Calderon in particular focused on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast when they reopened a Mexican Consulate downtown, restoring a full diplomatic mission in the city where Mexico opened its first consulate in the 1820s.

Bush spoke to dignitaries outside the consulate on Convention Center Boulevard, saying it was a celebration of the reopening of the first Mexican consulate in the U.S. and "the comeback of a great American city."

"You know, I chose New Orleans for our meetings with Mexico and Canada to send a clear signal to the people of my country that New Orleans is open for business, it's a great place to visit and after the devastation of Katrina it's become a hopeful city," Bush said.

Bush introduced New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin at the event as "el alcalde," the Spanish words for "the mayor."

Calderon's office said the consulate first opened in 1826, but closed because of budget cuts in 2002. Bush said in his remarks that it opened in 1824 and Mexican officials last week said it was 1822, but all seemed to agree it was Mexico's first diplomatic mission in the country.

Calderon, speaking in Spanish, said it was important to reopen the New Orleans office for the thousands of Mexicans who live in Louisiana and Mississippi.

"Thousands of Mexicans have found opportunity in the United States," Calderon said. "And they contribute $635 million to the United States' economy."

Calderon said the ties aren't just economic.

"Our ties were strengthened with the tragedies of devastation from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita," he said. "Thousands of Mexicans participated in the reconstruction and I'm happy today to see New Orleans standing and working."

Later, the two met for sit-down talks in the Windsor Court Hotel, discussing border security, including the fight against drug and arms trafficking. Bush said he recognized that when Calderon took office in 2006, he "inherited a difficult situation" with the "high demand for drugs in the United States."

"I want to work with you in close coordination to defeat these drug traffickers," Bush said, sitting next to Calderon.

Calderon responded in Spanish, followed by a translation, but Bush jumped in to say, "I understood every word."

Calderon added his voice to that of Bush and Harper in support of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is in its 15th year, but has come under renewed fire from U.S. Democratic presidential candidates. The Mexican president said NAFTA has actually slowed migration of Mexican workers to the United States because it's created jobs in both countries.

"Recently, NAFTA has come under criticism, and I don't believe people are realizing the benefits it has brought to the United States and Mexico," Calderon said.

Harper, who spoke in French first, then English, after his face-to-face meeting with Bush, gave few specifics about the talks or his goals. Bush said more, particularly on the issue of agreements to make sure travel of people and goods across their vast shared border would not be hindered by new security measures.

"I remember the last time we met there was great concern about whether the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative would be counterporductive to our continued relationship," Bush said. "And I want to thank your government, thank your ministers and the people in your staff for working hard to find a way that didn't inconvenience the citizens of Canada or the United States."

Bush, Calderon and Harper arrived separately at Louis Armstrong International Airport earlier and were greeted by 150 school children waving flags.

Bush stepped off Air Force One at 10:35 a.m. with a wave and a smile. After a quick salute, he gave Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal a handshake and kissed his wife Supriya Jindal on the cheek. Bush then greeted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson and his wife, Andrea Jefferson, exchanging pats on the arm with the embattled Democratic congressman Bush playfully calls "Jeff."

Next was Nagin, who got a hug and a long handshake from Bush. He also clasped hands with Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, then greeted Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, State Treasurer John Kennedy and Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon.

Kennedy, a former Democrat, is now the Republican challenging U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, and Bush will attend a fundraiser for Kennedy in Baton Rouge tomorrow evening.

Bush headed directly over to a crowd of students standing behind a police baracade on the tarmac. First, he hammed it up with Warren Easton High School students, who held U.S., Mexican and Canadian flags. One starry-eyed girl, Helen Meridy, 16, asked him for a kiss on the cheek with a point of her finger, and Bush quickly obliged. He then moved down the line to slightly less gregarious grade-school kids from Martin Luther King Charter School in the Lower 9th Ward, where he visited on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Bush was then whisked into a motorcade to head into the city. Traffic was stopped eastbound on I-10 and rubbernecking stopped traffic westbound nearly all the way to Bonnabel. He was brought to the Windsor Court Hotel, where local FEMA director Jim Stark was among federal officials holding meetings with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Calderon arrived at the airport next and was greeted by two Spanish-speaking Warren Easton High School students. Harper landed at noon. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band played for the foreign heads of state.

Bush presented the President's Volunteer Service Award to Audrey Browder, a volunteer with the Central City Partnership, Holy Ghost Catholic Church and Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans.

After Bush meets with Harper, the Mexican and Canadian heads-of-state will also meet separately. Bush is expected to visit a meeting of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at Gallier Hall on his way to dinner with the other leaders at a famous New Orleans restaurant.

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008 ... rport.html

Lou Dobbs reported on this today...had a congress women on who said several congressmen/woman have sent a letter to Bush saying he is to stop these SPP meeting and agreements with out the oversight of congress and it must be brought out in the open for the public to see what is going on....Canada Legislatures did the same

"Thousands of Mexicans have found opportunity in the United States," Calderon said. "And they contribute $635 million to the United States' economy."

I think he kind of inflated that figure, didn't he? Someone should tell him they contribute a lot of other things, too, like crime against our citizens, overcrowded schools, bankruptcy of hospitals, because you can't tell me that all the Mexicans in Louisiana are legal.

English translation, his people cost the United States taxpayer $635 billion.

Wait a minute. I just realized this. Calderon says "immigrants" contibute 635 million, yet Rubunstein says illegal aliens costs us 346 billion. When I first read the article I thought Calderon was saying billions. Holy moley, if these figures are right, illegals have put us in the hole big time.

Bush seeks to cement legacy of ties with Canada, Mexico

By Ben Feller
ASSOCIATED PRESS

9:52 a.m. April 21, 2008

NEW ORLEANS – President Bush's final meeting with the leaders of Mexico and Canada on Monday has the intended twist of giving an economic and symbolic boost to New Orleans, which is recovering with uneven success from the most brutal natural disaster in U.S. history.
Ahead of the day's events, the Bush administration tried to frame New Orleans' turnaround from Hurricane Katrina in upbeat terms. Paul Conway, chief of staff for the federal government's recovery effort, said elected and volunteer leaders in the city are demanding and getting results.

Their message is, “A new era of business in New Orleans is here,â€

He sees trade with friendly nations as essential to economic growth and national security. He and his counterparts are expected to use the platform of the New Orleans summit to defend NAFTA. And Bush, frustrated by a stalled free-trade deal with Colombia, will again urge Congress to put it to a vote.

Well, his "friendly nations" are driving this country into the dirt and killing off our citizens. If I was him, I wouldn't brag about that. "National security?" THE BORDER'S WIDE OPEN, IDIOT!

Bush defends free-trade agreement with Mexico and Canada
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer

Monday, April 21, 2008

(04-21) 17:26 PDT NEW ORLEANS, (AP) --

President Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon strongly defended free trade across North America on Monday, fending off anti-trade remarks that Democrats running for the White House are using to lure working class voters.

Opening a two-day summit with Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Bush hailed the benefits of cross-border trade despite a rising protectionist sentiment on Capitol Hill. The president said that when he and Calderon were growing up, the border was poor, but today it's prospering.

"Our trade has tripled, and our economies have grown," said Bush, who decided to host the summit in New Orleans to showcase its rebirth following Hurricane Katrina. "This has been a very positive aspect for both our countries."

Calderon was more specific, saying the North American Free Trade Agreement is misunderstood. Launched in 1994, the accord eliminated trade barriers among the United States, Mexico and Canada.

"I stress this issue because recently NAFTA has come under criticism," the Mexican president said. "And I do not believe that people are realizing how many benefits NAFTA has brought, both to the United States and to Mexico."

He said the far-reaching trade deal has led to the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs on both sides of the border, has offered more choices to consumers and has raised the quality of products.

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, both have threatened to pull the U.S. out of NAFTA if elected as a means to pressure Canada and Mexico to negotiate more protections for workers and the environment. Bush calls the idea isolationist and reckless.

Clinton, D-N.Y., has made opposition to new trade deals a centerpiece of her campaign and has vowed to at least re-negotiate NAFTA, which has been blamed for moving blue collar jobs to Mexico and elsewhere. Obama, D-Ill., has chided Clinton about NAFTA, saying it was passed while her husband, former President Clinton, was in office.

Recently in Pittsburgh, Clinton told manufacturers and union workers that her husband made mistakes related to NAFTA that she plans to fix. She said she would correct problems that have led to job losses, or would tell Canada and Mexico the United States is pulling out of the agreement.

While Obama and Clinton compete in Tuesday's Democratic primary in Pennsylvania, Bush is using the summit in Louisiana as a stage to not only promote NAFTA, the world's largest trading zone, but push Congress to ratify free trade deals with Panama, South Korea and Colombia. The House recently put off a vote on the Colombia free trade pact, making it less likely that it will be approved this year.

Bush pushed anew for the Colombia deal at a reception of business leaders Monday night.

"I fully understand that this is a tough political vote for some, but it's about time America sets aside petty politics and focuses on doing what's right for the United States of America," he said.

Before his meetings with Calderon and Harper, Bush attended a ceremony to reopen the Mexican consulate in New Orleans. The Mexican government closed the consulate as a cost-saving measure in 2002. In recent years, immigrants from Mexico and across Latin America have worked to rebuild the city, and tens of thousands now live in the New Orleans area.

"Our relations are not just economic in nature," Calderon said. "They also have deep ties of friendship, and I'm sure that we are going to strengthen them even more at this meeting.

"Those links were strengthened on the occasion of the devastating tragedies caused by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. At that time the people of Mexico expressed its solidarity to our brothers and sisters in Louisiana. I know that thousands of Mexicans have participated in the reconstruction of New Orleans. I'm very happy today to see New Orleans standing and working."

The summit was held in the city's business district near the French Quarter, but far from areas obliterated by Katrina. White House officials said Bush's decision to host the event in New Orleans shows the city is ready to be the venue for international events. But it's not its first big event. Last year, the city hosted college football championship games, the Mardi Gras and the NBA All-Star Game.

Katrina roared onto land on Aug. 29, 2005, and the Bush administration was criticized widely for its slow response in dealing with what turned out to be the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history. The monster storm swamped New Orleans, killed hundreds of people across the Gulf Coast, destroyed or damaged more than 200,000 homes and made more than 800,000 people homeless overnight. In New Orleans, a beloved American city, progress is uneven almost 32 months later.

The city is repopulating, the music and restaurant scenes are recovering, the port business has steadily improved and sales tax revenues are near normal. Yet it is still dogged by crime, homelessness and frustrations about the pace of rebuilding efforts

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 400D89.DTL

35 comments have been left so far at the source link.
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April 20, 2008, 10:21PM
Trade the talk of summit, but controversy looms

Bush meets with North American leaders this week in New Orleans


By JULIE MASON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — With free trade issues looming large in the race to replace him, President Bush this week convenes his final North American Leaders' Summit, focusing on trade, economic and security issues with counterparts from Mexico and Canada.

Bush is hosting Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in New Orleans for a two-day conference starting today. It is the fourth annual meeting of a summit that first convened in 2005 in Waco.

"We'd like to enhance and strengthen an already dynamic and strong relationship, to deepen the cooperation by building on the common interests of our citizens," said Dan Fisk, senior director of Western Hemisphere Affairs for the National Security Council. "The North American relationship works; we believe it works well for all three countries, but we also believe we can make it work better."


Opponents speak up
The conference is not expected to yield any significant new breakthroughs or agreements, and is more of a status conference by the leaders and their staffs. Even so, the summit is not without controversy.

The "Security and Prosperity Partnership," as the three call their shared agenda, has been met with alarm and anger by some, most prominently by CNN commentator Lou Dobbs, who argues that it's a first step toward a blended North American Union modeled on the European Union that will result in a loss of American sovereignty.

Bush, who has vigorously promoted trade and economic cooperation with his neighbors, last year dismissed such claims as "political scare tactics."

Voices on the left also oppose the alliance, claiming the leaders put the interests of business and trade before workers and the environment. A spate of protests are planned for New Orleans, including a shadow "people's summit."


New Orleans as a host
The choice of New Orleans to host the event was Bush's idea, a White House source said. However, the city's struggling recovery from 2005's Hurricane Katrina is not expected to be a major topic at the summit.

Instead, the leaders are planning to focus on a broad, five-point agenda that includes competitiveness, border issues, energy and environment, food and product safety, and emergency preparedness for natural disasters and other events.

The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, championed by Bush, has become a significant issue in the 2008 presidential campaign, with both Democratic contenders blaming the pact for job losses and labor issues abroad and vowing to renegotiate the agreement if elected. Fisk and others said the North American leaders seem happy with the deal and are not expected to spend time on it.

Canada is the United States' largest trading partner, while Mexico is the third. Trade between the three countries totals about $2.5 billion a day, or $930 billion a year. Canada and Mexico are major oil exporters to the U.S.


Expected topics
John Diamond, an economist at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, said any move by Bush to change NAFTA "would create problems" with the other two partners.

Generally, Bush's relations with Calderon and Harper are positive and businesslike, analysts said. Their shared economic interests tend to supersede thornier issues.

"I think in general there is a high level of coordination and consultation," said Peter DeShazo, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "There are always bilateral issues that are points of discord because variables in relationships are so great ... (but) the overall importance of the relationships is considerable."

Harper, whose Canadian government is likely to spend $1 billion on the conflict in Afghanistan this year, is expected to address the issue of Canada's stressed troop levels with Bush.

Calderon is expected to press Bush on migration and border issues, including easing travel restrictions and possibly the border fence, in addition to Bush's $500 million Merida Initiative to address drug-related crime in Mexico.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5716282.html