Posted on 05/26/2006 11:50:55 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Mexican President Vicente Fox told business leaders Friday that his country's re-engineered financial markets and competitive labor costs create a powerful investment opportunity.
Speaking to a breakfast meeting of the California Chamber of Commerce, Fox said U.S. companies should use reduced trade barriers between North American nations to "bring one foot in Mexico, one foot in Canada, one foot in United States."
"Maybe you raise capital in the United States; now you can raise capital at the same cost in Mexico," he said.
The goal of a united North America, Fox said, should be "to regain competitiveness and to be able to meet the challenge of Asia and other blocs in the world."
Fox's comments came during his last scheduled stop in the capital before traveling to Los Angeles, where he will meet Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Cardinal Roger Mahony, leader of the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese. Fox visited Utah and Washington earlier in the week.
On Thursday evening, Fox kicked off his Sacramento visit, the highest-profile stop on his four-day tour of the western United States, by praising the U.S. Senate's passage of a comprehensive immigration reform bill. He addressed a joint session of the California Legislature, met privately with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and spoke at a reception and state dinner.
After choosing his words carefully Thursday night, stressing that Mexico and the United States share common economic and security interests, Fox spoke Friday without prepared remarks.
He focused mostly on his nation's improved economic indicators but also reiterated his support for the immigration bill, which he said would let Mexican immigrants come out of hiding and potentially return to Mexico to visit family.
"They can do their work with loyalty, with opportunity, with dignity," he said.
Fox thanked President Bush for his commitment to immigration reform but also credited a push by Mexican immigrants in the United States who organized massive demonstrations this spring.
"The paesanos — they fought for it, they earned what they got yesterday," he said.
The Senate bill calls for hiring additional Border Patrol agents and building a partial border fence but also includes a guest worker program and a chance at citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. They would have to meet conditions including paying a fine and back taxes.
Fox's U.S. visit has stirred passions among the fiercest partisans in the immigration debate.
Some California Republican lawmakers boycotted his speech to the Legislature, while others attended wearing yellow buttons that read, "No mas," which they said meant no more illegal immigration.
But many Democrats embraced him, as did Schwarzenegger, who is trying to regain the trust of Hispanic voters in time for the fall election.
Mexican President Vicente Fox, third from right, receives applause after his speech before the California Chamber of Commerce in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, May 26, 2006. Fox praised the U.S. Senate for passing an immigration bill that he called, a 'monumental step forward' that marks a historic moment in the relationship between Mexico and the United States.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, Pool)
Fox said U.S. companies should use reduced trade barriers between North American nations to "bring one foot in Mexico, one foot in Canada, one foot in United States."
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cha cha cha
I'll give Vincente Fox $20,000 if he'll give me Mexican citizenship, then I can buy land there and invest.
We should invest in a nice high wall along the border with Mexico. With lots of barbed wire on top.
He'd do better investing in his own people.
This POS owes the US taxpayer a great deal of money.
Put your leftist foot in. Put your leftist foot out. Put your leftist foot in and shake it all about.
The country lets oligarchs dominate its banking, energy, and communications industries, not to mention every government official putting his hand out before performing any duty. Trying to invest in business in such an environment is like tying a lead weight to your leg before the race.
I don't know how many times FReepers have to hear this before it finally sinks in...This is Bush's plan...If you are a FReeper and support Bush's plan, you are, in my view, not supportive of a Free Republic...
Invest in mejico, or I will send you 12 million more illegals.
Fox: "Give us your jobs and you (US) take our undesirables."
Someday, some of us will look back on this moment in time and say, "Right here, this is where the cancer started to metastasize. This is when the oligarchs no longer felt the need to pretend."
The goal of a united North America
Sorry Foxy, I don't agree with yours, President Bushes, or the Senate's view of a united North America.
Take a hike!
Yes lets all invest in Mexico so they can confiscate that investment. Go To Hell President FOX.
Yeah, and lots and lots of landmines at the foot of the wall.
Maybe impeaching Bush is not such a bad idea anymore.
We shouldn't be investing in Mexico. We should be declaring war against them.
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