TOLUCA–President Barack Obama headed into a summit yesterday with Mexican and Canadian leaders eager to engage on issues of trade and other neighbour-to-neighbour interests, even as Congress is pushing back against some of his top cross-border agenda items.
Obama, flanked by his trade negotiator and secretaries of Commerce and Homeland Security, stepped off Air Force One and onto a red carpet in Toluca, near Mexico City, where an honour guard lined the walk to Obama's limousine. At an ornate state government complex nearby, Obama was to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during the North American Leaders' Summit,
A full agenda awaited the three North American Free Trade Agreement partners, including commerce, immigration, energy and security.The talks will highlight how increasingly interconnected the three economies are 20 years since the NAFTA took effect. But they will also illustrate the limits of Obama's power, his hands tied on immigration by congressional Republicans and on trade by his fellow Democrats.
AP