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REPORTS: FREE TRADE |
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A
Marriage Made in Washington
Two
unrelated factors have brought Canada
and Mexico closer than realized: the
North American Free Trade Agreement and
the Bush administration.
Acting independently, Canada and Mexico
opposed President George W. Bush's war
on Iraq, despite intense American
pressure.
Both ended up feeling the wrath of the
"You are with us or against us" crowd in
Washington.
"Iraq did help bring Canada and Mexico
together," says Gaëtan Lavertu, the
Canadian ambassador in Mexico.
But he adds that the kinship predates
that high-profile spat.
"The Mexican position on most foreign
policy issues," he said in an interview,
"has been very close to the Canadian
position" — such as supporting the land
mines treaty and the international
criminal court, both opposed by Bush.
"Mexico is keen to maintain an
independent foreign policy, as is
Canada. We are not seeking a political
community with the U.S. and want to
maintain our respective identities.
"We can disagree without being
disagreeable."
The Bush administration is, of course,
disagreeable about the disagreements.
But the veteran diplomat won't be drawn
into that.
He only notes that much of the world
also opposed the war. And he proceeds to
rhyme off the remarkable progress in the
Canadian-Mexican relationship.
While both nations have benefited from
free trade with the U.S. — trilateral
trade has doubled to $620 billion U.S. a
year — NAFTA did energize Canada-Mexico
trade as well, to more than $12 billion
a year.
There's vigorous debate over the social
and political costs of NAFTA, and even
about its economic benefits for the
poor. But focus, for now, on the
Canada-Mexico angle.
Since 1993, Canadian exports to Mexico
have quadrupled, to $4.4 billion a year.
That makes Mexico our fourth largest
export market, after the U.S., China and
Japan.
Canada imports from Mexico $8 billion
worth of goods. That's more than what we
buy from all the European Union
countries combined. Canada is Mexico's
second largest export market after the
U.S.
Canadian investment in Mexico has
skyrocketed, to more than $5 billion.
Canada is Mexico's fourth largest
investor, after the U.S., the
Netherlands and Spain.
More than 1 million Canadian tourists
come to Mexico every year. About 50,000
Canadians live and work here, including
a growing number of retirees.
About 12,000 Mexicans work in the fruit
groves and farms of southern Ontario and
Quebec every summer and fall. (Virtually
all go back). Lavertu says the program
may be extended to the construction and
tourism industries.
More than 10,000 Mexicans are studying
in Canadian universities under 400
agreements between Canadian and Mexican
educational institutions. There are 15
Canadian study programs in Mexican
universities.
John Ralston Saul and Michael Ondaatje
spoke last week at the Margaret
Atwood-Gabrielle Roy Chair at Mexico's
largest university here.
Concurrently, Canadians constituted the
largest foreign delegation here to the
annual congress of PEN International
(poets, playwrights, essayists,
novelists etc.), a group dedicated to
freedom of thought.
Two Aboriginal Canadian authors, Drew
Haydon Taylor from Ontario and Michael
Kusugak from Nunavut, participated in a
special session on indigenous writers
arranged by PEN Quebec and PEN Mexico.
As President Vicente Fox tries to move
Mexico away from its endemic corruption
and authoritarianism — "there's
tremendous progress being made on
democratization," says Lavertu — it
looks to Canada as a model.
Ottawa is offering advice and help on a
series of reforms: an accountable civil
service, access to information,
e-government, privacy, fair elections
and democratic institutions.
Fox and Jean Chrétien have met six
times, and half the Canadian cabinet has
been here. Paul Martin will be here next
month for a Summit of the Americas.
As the hemisphere moves towards Free
Trade Areas of the Americas by 2005,
Canada hopes to preserve its bilateral
trade agreements with Chile and Costa
Rica, and continue to pursue three
others: with the Dominican Republic;
with the Andean nations (Bolivia,
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela);
and CARICOM, an economic association of
Caribbean states.
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