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It makes sense to form an alliance to compete against China. I wouldn't have a problem with it if labor was going to be better represented and if I trusted them to fix the trade agreements.
Security and Prosperity Partnership
CANCUN, MEXICO. 30-31 Mar 2006. Canada's new prime minister, Stephen Harper, joins United States President George W. Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox in the resort town of Cancun to fine tune the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), started by the three countries in Mar 2005. The SPP is designed to make trade more efficient and borders more secure without obstructing business and traffic. It's aimed at making Canadian, US and Mexican products more competitive with imports from China and other nations and trade blocks. Harmony during the summit could be in short supply.
Bush and Fox are at odds over US construction of a border fence between Mexico and the United States and about immigration, and there are still outstanding trade disputes related to the North American Free Trade Agreement that could get in the road of any new initiatives.
An estimated 1,500 Latin Americans, mostly Mexicans, are believed to cross into the United States illegally every day. The Mexico-US wall is still a virtual fence, and the US Senate is debating whether it should stay that way or whether an actual barrier should should be built along part or all of the nearly 2,000-mile border. Washington has accused Mexico of not doing enough to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the US. Fox has described the fence plan as "shameful," and recently told the BBC that in 10 years' time the United States would have to "beg for Mexican workers" to cover its labor needs.
The new Canadian Conservative leader is closer politically to Washington, but a long running dispute over timber imports could interfere with their efforts to clear trade barriers. Ontario announced a C$220 million ($191 million) aid package in February for its struggling forestry industry, which a U.S. official said it could prolong the lumber trade fight. Harper's new and still numerically-frail government is at risk if he is seen to be making big concessions to the United States on any trade or security issue. Mar/06
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