Bush, Calderon defend free trade

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — President Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon strongly defended free trade across North America on Monday, fending off anti-trade remarks that Democrats running for the White House are using to lure working-class voters.

Opening a two-day summit with Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Bush hailed the benefits of cross-border trade despite a rising protectionist sentiment on Capitol Hill. The president said that when he and Calderon were growing up, the border was poor, but today it’s prospering.

“Our trade has tripled, and our economies have grown,” said Bush, who decided to host the summit in New Orleans to showcase its rebirth following Hurricane Katrina. “This has been a very positive aspect for both our countries.”

Calderon was more specific, saying the North American Free Trade Agreement is misunderstood. Launched in 1994, the accord eliminated trade barriers among the United States, Mexico and Canada.

“I stress this issue because recently NAFTA has come under criticism,” the Mexican president said. “And I do not believe that people are realizing how many benefits NAFTA has brought, both to the United States and to Mexico.”

He said the far-reaching trade deal has led to the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs on both sides of the border, has offered more choices to consumers and has raised the quality of products.

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, both have threatened to pull the U.S. out of NAFTA if elected as a means to pressure Canada and Mexico to negotiate more protections for workers and the environment. Bush calls the idea isolationist and reckless.

Clinton, D-N.Y., has made opposition to new trade deals a centerpiece of her campaign and has vowed to at least re-negotiate NAFTA, which has been blamed for moving blue collar jobs to Mexico and elsewhere. Obama, D-Ill., has chided Clinton about NAFTA, saying it was passed while her husband, former President Clinton, was in office.

Recently in Pittsburgh, Clinton told manufacturers and union workers that her husband made mistakes related to NAFTA that she plans to fix. She said she would correct problems that have led to job losses, or would tell Canada and Mexico the United States is pulling out of the agreement.

Before his meetings with Calderon and Harper, Bush attended a ceremony to reopen the Mexican consulate in New Orleans. The Mexican government closed the consulate as a cost-saving measure in 2002.