The President-Elect's first meeting with a foreign leader
Here is another contribution from CIP Intern Matthew McClellan on Monday's meeting between Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderón.
On January 12, Barack Obama and Felipe Calderón met in Washington DC’s Mexican Cultural Institute. The Office of the President-Elect, in a January 8 press release on the change.gov website, noted that “There is a long-standing tradition…of U.S. Presidents meeting with the Mexican president prior to being sworn in to underscore the important relationship between the United States and Mexico. This meeting is in keeping with that tradition.” A press release that same day from the Mexican Presidency reported that Calderón and Obama would “discuss the main issues on the bilateral agenda and issues of regional and world importance.”
In a January 12 blog post on change.gov, Dan McSwain repeated the earlier emphasis on the “long-standing tradition” of the meeting, and wrote that the two leaders discussed “some of the major issues that will be the cornerstone of U.S.-Mexico relations during the coming administration.”
A statement from incoming Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fleshed out the discussion to some extent, listing its main topics as security, the economy, and immigration.
Security: Obama "applauded the steps that President Calderón has taken to improve security in Mexico and expressed his on-going support for the valuable work being done under the Mérida Initiative." In the meeting, the President-Elect “pledged to take more effective action from the United States to stem the flow of arms from the United States to Mexico.”
Economy: The conversation on the economy was evidently marked by labor and environmental concerns, including “upgrading NAFTA to strengthen labor and environmental provisions to reflect the values that are widely shared in both of our countries” and “mutually beneficial opportunities in low carbon energy development and carbon abatement opportunities.”
Immigration: Obama asserted that although illegal immigration is a problem in the United States, “immigrants should be treated with dignity and that the immigration debate should not be a vehicle for vilifying any group.”
President Calderón, speaking at the end of the lunchtime meeting with President-elect Obama, reiterated the concerns about security, economy, and narcotics, and alluded to more specific items such as the Mexican-proposed environmental Green Fund.
Calderón has sought U.S. security cooperation more than almost all his predecessors, with the possible exception of Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000). He emphasized this theme in his remarks, saying “we will have to fight the common problem of organized crime, terrorism and drug trafficking, which is an international problem, together.” He also declared “the safer Mexico is, the safer the United States will also be.”
The Mexican President concluded by acknowledging President-elect Obama's positive gestures, but he also reminded the incoming administration of the United States' place within – and obligations to – the rest of the global community:
Lastly, we also discussed the importance of promoting far more constructive relations in the international sphere and participating in the groups to which we belong: the G-20, the G-8, the G-5, the APEC Forum and the United Nations Security Council. And although our conversation was extremely general, I am certain it will be the start of an extraordinary period of relations and cooperation between the United States and Mexico.