[DeaconBenjamin]

NAFTA, you give me lafta.
The trade's not so free, it appears to me.
Just as in the EU, farm supports are hard to undo.

[Jhoffa_]

"They are either protected to be able to survive in Mexico, or will be overwhelmed by subsidised imports and have to move to the US,"

Just so you know, if it comes to relocation..

We would appreciate it if they "move" to the US legally.

As opposed to climbing a fence someplace... Eh?

[He Rides A White Horse]

Mexico has also hinted that it may use safeguard provisions to restrict imports of US beef, white corn and dried beans.

That's okay, some of us want to see 'safeguard provisions' against imports of illegal aliens.

I do believe we may reach a deal here.

[He Rides A White Horse]

Because 3m Mexican farmers grow corn to feed their families, this is a bedrock issue. "They are either protected to be able to survive in Mexico, or will be overwhelmed by subsidised imports and have to move to the US," said Carlos Heredia, vice-president of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations.

Translation: Give us what we want, or we'll send more people your way. Or something to that effect.

Luis Rubio, director of the Cidac think-tank in Mexico City, said: "There's been a dramatic shift in the way Mexico is working inside Nafta, and towards free trade in general. Under this administration, Mexico is no longer seeing free trade as an instrument to develop its economy. It's rather seeing it as a cost and as a problem."

Translation: NAFTA sounds like yet another socialist redistribution scheme; Mexico says, "We like the parts of the treaty that favor us, and insist on them, but we'll nullify the parts we don't.

While political pressures on both sides of the border suggest it will be difficult to avoid further conflict, Mexico is taking steps to try to defuse some of the disputes before they escalate. Luis Derbez, Mexico's foreign minister, said in a letter sent on Wednesday to Robert Zoellick, US trade representative, that Mexico would next week lift anti-dumping duties that currently block imports of US live hogs.

Like this is the real issue. Or this:

Charles Grassley, the powerful chairman of the Senate finance committee, who represents Iowa, the largest exporter of pork, warned earlier this month that members of Congress who supported free trade "wonder why Mexican officials are so willing to jeopardise the foundation of the trading system. . . by imposing these restrictions".

.....I have an idea as to why they are bringing this up.

But he said on Thursday that the reversal on live hogs "might provide momentum for Mexico to dismantle other trade barriers that harm Iowa producers".

I have a feeling that some of the barriers are being placed as to provide leverage on non-trade issues.

This is a smokescreen. I'm sure many Freepers can guess as to what the real objective is.

[Mister Baredog]

Luis Rubio, director of the Cidac think-tank in Mexico City, said: "There's been a dramatic shift in the way Mexico is working inside Nafta, and towards free trade in general. Under this administration, Mexico is no longer seeing free trade as an instrument to develop its economy. It's rather seeing it as a cost and as a problem."

They thought NAFTA was only for them, how silly.

Love you little poem, it seems when times are tough PROTECTIONISM is all the rage.

[He Rides A White Horse]

L-E-V-E-R-A-G-E.

[green team 1999]

bump

[Beck_isright]

I'm so glad we signed this treaty with our friends, Canada and Mexico. It's sort of like Czechoslovakia signing a treaty with Hitler in 1937. With friends like this, who needs enemies?

[Captain Shady]

Time to dump NAFTA. Would tell Mexico to go to Hell,but they're already there.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Just more of the same old same old from Mexico: what's ours is ours, what's yours is negotiable. It's been said often, but it's true.

We should never have gotten into such a massive trade deal with that country, they were nowhere near being ready.