President-elect Barack Obama said President Felipe Calderon of Mexico is “moving his country in a direction that is unprecedented” on energy policy and said the U.S. relationship with its southern neighbor is “critical” to the economy.
The “friendship between the U.S. and Mexico has been strong,” Obama told reporters today after meeting with Calderon at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington. “I believe it can be even stronger.”
Calderon said he looks forward to stronger ties with the U.S.
“The more secure Mexico is, the more secure the U.S. will be,” he said.
They didn't talk of NAFTA, the trade agreement that Obama suggested he might want to restructure - but:
Three Obama advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity last month, said he will order a study on Nafta and then seek longer-term negotiations with Mexico and Canada on how to change it.
Mexico is the third-largest U.S. trading partner, exchanging about $347 billion in goods last year. Bloomberg
