Former President Salinas Warns of Drift from U.S.-Mexico NAFTA Gains

[Say_What]

<clips>

Nov 06, 2003 (Knight Ridder Washington Bureau - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- MEXICO CITY--Carlos Salinas de Gortari, the former Mexican president credited with ushering in close business and political relations with the United States, is emerging from self-imposed exile to warn that the two neighbors could drift apart if U.S. terrorism concerns continue to push Mexico's immigration agenda to the back burner.

In an exclusive interview weeks before the 10th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Salinas said this week that the business gains from that treaty must be joined with an immigration accord that recognizes the vital role Mexicans play in the U.S. economy.

"NAFTA created rules that allowed certainty," Salinas said. "Well, in the movement of people we need rules that give certainty, and this would benefit the U.S. economy, where migrant workers have such a positive effect, and the Mexican economy, to which those workers contribute with their remittances."

Salinas' comments could be dismissed as those of a politician whose time in the limelight has passed. But he's no average politician. As the architect of NAFTA, Salinas was the most pro-American and pro-business chief executive in Mexico's history, and his bold moves to forge trade pacts with Chile, the United States and Canada later were emulated throughout the Americas.

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[caledesi]

1. Thanks SW. Good article. nt