by Deborah Bonello
Republican presumptive presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, who over the weekend went head to head with Democratic rival Barack Obama over the issue of immigration, heads down to Latin America today in a tour expected to include Mexico and Colombia.
McCain is expected to focus on the issues of free trade and illegal immigration during his trip south.
McCain is a strong supporter of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, among the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But the trade deal has proved unpopular with many on both sides of the border.
Although trade has grown since the agreement was signed, Ohio's manufacturing-heavy economy has suffered some of the steepest job losses of the last decade. It is hard to say precisely which losses were attributable directly to NAFTA, but Robert Scott, a trade expert at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, estimates that about 50,000 jobs in Ohio were lost between 1994 and 2004 as a result of NAFTA, says this report from the Los Angeles Times.
Likewise, Mexican farmers were out in force in February protesting the lifting of trade restrictions, thanks to NAFTA, on agricultural commodities like corn, rice and oats. The farmers claimed lifting the restrictions will put them out of work because they won't be able to compete with powerful U.S. agribusinesses. They wanted the pact rewritten.
McCain is also a strong supporter of the stalled free-trade agreement with Colombia.
Illegal immigration is his priority discussion topic for his visit to Mexico City -- his comments will be noted by Democrats and Republicans alike back home, where detractors say he has flip-flopped on the issue.
"McCain co-sponsored Senate legislation that would have allowed illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S., work and apply to become legal residents after learning English, paying fines and back taxes, and clearing a background check. The measure failed last year and McCain since has talked primarily about the importance of boosting border security, and less so about a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally."
Deborah Bonello wrote this report for La Plaza, the Los Angeles Times blog about Latin America.
Read more about the trip in this wire report at ChicagoTribune.com.
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Comments
McCain is going on this trip to cozy up to his Big Oil and Big Business friends, the guys who run his campaign from top to bottom.
"It makes little sense to recommend that Senator McCain, while in Colombia, express concerns about impunity, threats against human-rights defenders, para-politics, extra-judicial executions or the frustrating failure of counter-drug efforts. Since McCain has scheduled meetings with U.S. business and oil-company executives, his agenda appears to be quite the opposite".
full story here:
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http://www.cipcol.org/?p=626#more-626
McCain = third term of Bush
Posted by: John E | July 1, 2008 5:10 PM
McCain heads down to Latin America. Obama should head across to Iran.
Posted by: Mick | July 1, 2008 7:28 PM
McCain should run for president of Mexico or Columbia. He thinks they should be included in our political process. He loves, as BushCo does, to give them our jobs, our country and to bring our dollar down to the level of their pesos. Why is McCain meeting with US CEOs and oil execs out of the country? Sounds like a loophole of some kind. Viva McCain!$!$!$!$!$!$!$PESO!$!$!$!$!$PESO!$!$!$!$!$!$!$!$! PESO!$!$!$!$!$PESO!$!$!$!$!$!$
Posted by: Vivian | July 1, 2008 10:01 PM
Keeping the Bush tradition alive....travel, travel, travel.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | July 2, 2008 6:38 AM
He's already "getting out of town"--even before the convention!
The Bush folk have been "getting out of town" more & more after the 06 "thumping".
This guy, however, kicks it up several notches by fleeing the scene even before he's nominated.
Is that because, at best, he can only attract a few dozen to his "rallies" whereas Barack attracts tens of thousands?
Posted by: ornery | July 2, 2008 9:29 AM