Mexico's New President To Talk Immigration, Drug War, Trade With President Obama

Mexico's President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto will meet President Barack Obama for the first time on Tuesday and the leaders have some weighty issues on their agenda.

According to the White House, the leaders will meet for under an hour while trying to tackle everything from economic development, trade, immigration, and "common security challenges" (read: the drug war). But first and foremost, the leaders will need to establish a rapport that could define their relationship for the next four years.

"He's got to establish a personal connection with President Obama," said Eric Farnsworth, the vice president of the Council of the Americas in charge of the organization's Washington, D.C. office, said Peña Nieto. "This is a get to know you session."
The 46-year-old president to be has much to prove.

A newcomer to the world stage, Peña Nieto, must prove he is committed to democracy since his Institutional Revolution Party (PRI) ruled Mexico with an autocratic iron first for nearly 70 years and became notorious for its rampant corruption.
The president-elect has said he represents a new breed of PRI leaders, but according to Farnsworth, "The president elect has the burden of proof on his shoulders that he is not of the old PRI and that this is a new day."

Mexico's reputation in the United States has reached a nadir. Nearly six in ten Americans see Mexico as a source of problems for the U.S. rather than a good partner and neighbor, according to a recent study commissioned by Vianovo and GSD&M. That does not bode well for a country that's one of the U.S.'s top trading partners….

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