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'Three amigos' Mexico summit to focus on trade
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-09 16:17 WASHINGTON: Leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada - also known as "the three amigos" - begin a summit on Sunday in Mexico to talk about simmering trade issues and the threat of drug gangs.
US President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon are gathering in Guadalajara for dinner Sunday night followed by three-way talks on Monday. At the top of their agenda is how to power their economies past a lingering downturn, keep trade flowing smoothly and grapple with Mexican gangs dominating the drug trade over the US border and up into Canada. Obama's national security adviser, Jim Jones, doubted the leaders would announce major agreements, predicting the annual summit "is going to be a step in the continuing dialogue from which agreements will undoubtedly come."
Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexican trucks are supposed to be allowed to cross into the United States, but American trucking companies charge Mexican trucks are not safe. The issue has festered for years. Mexico imposed retaliatory tariffs of $2.4 billion in US goods in March after Obama signed a bill canceling a program allowing Mexican trucks to operate beyond the US border zone. US business groups have been pressing the White House to resolve the dispute, saying the ban threatens to eliminate thousands of US jobs. "We would like to see a final closure and a final solution to the issue of trucking," said Mexico's ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan. He said he would like an agreement by year's end. |
