The Old Heave-Ho For Mexico?

MADELAINE DROHAN
Globe and Mail Update
April 18, 2008


OTTAWA — By all accounts Prime Minister Stephen Harper gets on well with his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon, even inviting the Mexican leader and his family to spend a few days with the Harpers at their Harrington Lake cottage last summer. However, one wonders if that spirit of bonhomie will prevail next week in New Orleans, when the leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico sit down to talk about the future of the North American free-trade agreement.

That NAFTA is under threat is no secret. The two candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nomination in the U.S. have been playing political football with the three-way trade deal for well over a year, tapping into and exacerbating economic anxieties and protectionist sentiment south of the border.

Both Canada and Mexico feel threatened by this development. The U.S. is the most important trading partner for both. But it is how the two governments deal with the problem that could create discord between the Canadian and Mexican leaders.