Group says trade needs to reclaim status in border policy
Group says trade needs to reclaim status in border policy
AS/COA Chairman and Former Ambassador to Mexico John Negroponte, states in a San Antonio Express article that although security has been the main focus of border policy after 9/11, the time is ripe for further efforts to facilitate U.S.-Mexico commerce and competitiveness.
LAREDO — Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico John Negroponte told reporters Thursday that for the decade after Sept. 11, security has been the main focus of border policy.
“That was probably most appropriate and quite natural under the circumstances,” he said. “We also need now to right the balance and focus also more on the issue of competitiveness, of facilitating commerce.”
Negroponte met Thursday with representatives from more than 30 public and private organizations from the U.S. and Mexico as part of the Council of the Americas. The group met in a roundtable discussion at La Posada hotel for talks on how to facilitate U.S.-Mexico trade.
The U.S. ambassador to Mexico from 1989 to 1993, Negroponte was based in Mexico during negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement. He said that in the two decades since, bilateral trade has quadrupled.
Trade between U.S. and Mexico totaled $500 billion last year, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Entities represented at the roundtable included the Laredo Chamber of Commerce, Chevron, DHL, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Wal-Mart de Mexico and Texas A&M International University....
