Mexico’s Inclusion in a “Mega” Trade Agreement Advances [in Spanish]

El Universal, 7/9/12

Today, the White House formally informed leaders in the Mexican Congress that they will be inviting Mexico to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).  Ambassador Ron Kirk, the head US Trade Representative, said that inviting Mexico would enable both nations to expand trade and further prosperity.

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U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk: Border trade on rise

El Paso Times, 8/16/11

This country’s trade with Mexico is stronger than ever despite the drug-cartel violence gripping that country, United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk told participants at the annual Border Security Conference at the University of Texas at El Paso on Monday.

Kirk also emphasized that the North American Free Trade Agreement has worked well and the best way to create more jobs in this country is for Congress to quickly approve three new trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

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U.S., Mexico closer to resolving trucking dispute

Reuters, 2/8/2010

In March 2009, U.S. lawmakers canceled funding for a test program begun by the Bush administration that allowed Mexican long-haul trucks to circulate in the United States, citing safety and security concerns.

The truck ban prompted Mexico to slap retaliatory tariffs on a long list of U.S. exports, including fruit and industrial goods, worth an estimated $2.4 billion.

But U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, visiting Mexico this week, said President Barack Obama had pushed Congress to remove the clause cutting funding for the program in recent legislation, a first step toward resolving the dispute.

“We have been able to work with Congress and Obama is very pleased that the language in the 2009 appropriations bill — that essentially cut off the funding for the demonstration safety program — was not included in the 2010 appropriations bill,” Kirk told Reuters in an interview.

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In Shift, Obama Doesn’t Plan to Reopen Nafta Talks

New York Times, 4/20/2009

USTR Ron Kirk

The Obama administration said on Monday that it had no plans to reopen negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement to revise its labor and environmental provisions, as then-Senator Barack Obama promised to do during his presidential campaign.

“The president has said we will look at all of our options, but I think they can be addressed without having to reopen the agreement,” said Ronald Kirk, the United States trade representative.

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Editorial: Bad Example

Editorial, Washington Post, 3/23/2009

The new president has made a number of gestures toward correcting America’s standing in the world. But on at least one occasion he and his party have acted as if the only thing that matters is what’s good for the United States — or, rather, certain people in the United States.

We speak of the Democratic Congress’s recent approval of a law, signed by Mr. Obama, that killed any chance that long-haul freight trucks from Mexico could operate in the United States, as had been promised under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Giving U.S. and Mexican trucks reciprocal access to each other’s markets would save fuel and money. An international arbitration panel has also found that the United States is legally required to let Mexican trucks in. Yet the Teamsters union bitterly resisted, claiming that poorly regulated trucks from south of the border would be menaces on U.S. highways.

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