McCain heads down to Latin America

Republican presumptive presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, who over the weekend went head to head with Democratic rival Barack Obama over the issue of immigration (see La Plaza posts here and here), heads down to Latin America today in a tour expected to include Mexico and Colombia.

McCain is expected to focus on the issues of free trade and illegal immigration during his trip south.

McCain is a strong supporter of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, among the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But the trade deal has proved unpopular with many on both sides of the border.

Although trade has grown since the agreement was signed, Ohio’s manufacturing-heavy economy has suffered some of the steepest job losses of the last decade. It is hard to say precisely which losses were attributable directly to NAFTA, but Robert Scott, a trade expert at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, estimates that about 50,000 jobs in Ohio were lost between 1994 and 2004 as a result of NAFTA, says this report from the Los Angeles Times.

Likewise, Mexican farmers were out in force in February protesting the lifting of trade restrictions, thanks to NAFTA, on agricultural commodities like corn, rice and oats (see a video below). The farmers claimed lifting the restrictions will put them out of work because they won't be able to compete with powerful U.S. agribusinesses. They wanted the pact rewritten.

McCain is also a strong supporter of the stalled free-trade agreement with Colombia.

Illegal immigration is his priority discussion topic for his visit to Mexico City -- his comments will be noted by Democrats and Republicans alike back home, where detractors say he has flip-flopped on the issue.

"McCain co-sponsored Senate legislation that would have allowed illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S., work and apply to become legal residents after learning English, paying fines and back taxes, and clearing a background check. The measure failed last year and McCain since has talked primarily about the importance of boosting border security, and less so about a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally."

Read the Associated Press report here...

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Comments

[Tomas]

It's important to highlight McCain's connections to Colombia, through his senior advisor Charlie Black.

See former NYT latin america correspondent, Larry Rohter article here - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/us/politics/01black.html?scp=1&sq=larry%20rohter%20mccain&st=cse

[althusius]

John McCain is going to Columbia to assure the cocaine industry that he will not secure our borders. Afterwards John McCain travels to Mexico to invite its residents to migrate to the United States illegally so that they will be eligible for the coming amnesty. Inotherwords nothing has changed.