VZCZCXRO0147
RR RUEHRS
DE RUEHME #0648/01 0532024
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 222023Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0582
INFO ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USNORTHCOM PETERSON AFB CO
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/USAID WASHDC 0011
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE USD FAS WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 MEXICO 000648 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR WHA/MEX/GOMEZ 
STATE PASS TO USTR FOR MELLE/MCCOY/SHIGETOMI 
STATE PASS TO JUSTICE FOR CCIPS/KOUAME AND OPDAT/TRUEBELL 
STATE PASS TO COMMERCE FOR ITA/MAC/ONAFTA/WORD 
STATE PASS TO ITA/MAC/IPR/WILSON 
COMMERCE PASS TO USPTO FOR RODRIGUEZ/BERDUT/MORALES 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON KIPR MX ETRD PREL EINT ENRG BTIO
SUBJECT: USTR Kirk Visit to Mexico: Trade Irritants Balanced with 
Positive Way Forward 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  In his February 8-9 visit to Mexico City, U.S. 
Trade Representative Ambassador Ron Kirk emphasized the importance 
of our economic partnership with Mexico, not just in terms of trade 
but also in terms of mutually beneficial competitiveness.  He met 
with President Calderon, Economy Secretary Gerardo Ruiz Mateos, 
academics and representatives of large, medium and small U.S. 
companies in Mexico.  The following are key points: 
 
 
 
-- Citing President Obama's newly-unveiled National Export 
Initiative (NEI), Ambassador Kirk stressed the importance of job 
creation in both Mexico and the United States, saying that the two 
countries are inextricably linked and that the gains of one partner 
are the gains of the other.  It is not the United States against 
Canada or the United States against Mexico, he insisted, but North 
America competing with China and other regional blocs in the world. 
 
 
 
-- Among the various trade irritants between Mexico and the United 
States, Ambassador Kirk agreed that the cross-border trucking 
dispute is the most important and symbolic.  He told top GOM 
officials that there is now a window of political opportunity to 
consult with the U.S. Congress and map out a new strategy.  He 
counseled patience and stressed the negative impact of additional 
retaliatory measures on the process of moving forward on this 
issue. 
 
 
 
-- Ambassador Kirk stressed the importance of moving beyond the 
trade-dispute-based issues that complicate our relationship and 
starting to look at positive ways in which we can work together and 
create a constructive economic agenda with Mexico that in turn will 
improve the region's competitiveness.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Accepting an invitation from Mexico's Secretary of the 
Economy Ruiz Mateos to visit Mexico City in early 2010, Ambassador 
Kirk was joined by Deputy USTR Ambassador Miriam Sapiro, Assistant 
USTR Everett Eissenstat, and Deputy Assistant USTR John Melle for a 
series of meetings with the Economy Secretary and his key Under 
Secretaries, various senior executives of U.S. multinationals and 
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and local academics and 
experts.  Ambassadors Kirk, Pascual and Sapiro also met separately 
with President Calderon. 
 
 
 
Meeting with Economia 
 
----------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Secretary Ruiz Mateos chaired the meeting; to underscore 
the importance and extent of potential collaboration, all four 
Economy Under Secretaries attended (Trade, Industry, 
Competitiveness and SMEs), as well as Ambassador Julian Ventura, 
the Under Secretary for North American Affairs at the Secretariat 
of Foreign Relations, and Rafael Fernandez de Castro, President 
Calderon's Chief Economic Advisor.  Secretary Ruiz Mateos laid out 
the common challenges facing Mexico and the United States - the 
importance of economic recovery, job creation, and the broader 
circulation of the benefits of trade.  He remarked that North 
America was losing its share of world exports.  In the second half 
of NAFTA's 15-year existence, annual trade growth rates were just 
one-third of what they achieved during the first seven years of 
NAFTA.  In order for the U.S. to double its exports, Mexico is a 
 
MEXICO 00000648  002 OF 005 
 
 
key partner  He stressed that we must, therefore, identify specific 
priorities and responsible parties in moving forward on a regional 
competitiveness agenda, including intellectual property rights 
(IPR), customs cooperation, regulatory cooperation, climate change, 
and labor rights.  Secretary Ruiz Mateos said that he fully expects 
pending ex-officio legislation, granting prosecutors the authority 
to pursue cases involving IPR violations without a prior complaint 
from the right-holders, to pass before the end of this year. 
Ambassador Sapiro and Economia Undersecretary for Trade 
Negotiations Beatriz Leycegui had met the prior day to review in 
more detail the ministerial agenda.  Summarizing their conversation 
regarding regulatory cooperation, Under Secretary Leycegui 
highlighted the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission Mutual 
Recognition Agreement for Conformity Assessment of 
Telecommunications Equipment (CITEL MRA) and meat inspections as 
two potential areas of cooperation.  Ambassador Sapiro noted the 
USG support for work on regulatory cooperation, and the need to 
develop an effective framework that provides the best approach for 
addressing a wide range of such issues. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) On trade irritants, Secretary Ruiz Mateos stressed that 
no issue is as important or significant as the cross-border 
trucking dispute.  Mexico's Secretariat of the Economy had prepared 
an extensive review of the impact of the trucking issue on Mexican 
and U.S. interests.  Mexican tariffs were inevitable after the 
pilot trucking initiative was terminated.  Mexico had studiously 
structured its response to be NAFTA-compliant.  The resultant 
tariffs were hurting U.S. business in 49 states.  The inability to 
have truck transit freely across the border was hurting U.S. and 
Mexican competitiveness.  We are currently in a "lose-lose" 
situation for both countries. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Under Secretary Leycegui pointed out that tuna is a $660 
million market to which Mexico has little to no access (only $9 
million in 2009).  Leycegui also highlighted the Buy American 
issue, saying that the Mexican private sector's primary concern is 
market access and not government procurement, and whether it will 
be excluded due to the extent and application of Buy American 
provisions.  Finally, while technically not a trade irritant, 
Leycegui noted that the shrimp/turtle issue, if Mexico is 
decertified, will have a deleterious effect on $340 million in 
Mexican shrimp exports (86 percent of total Mexican production). 
 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Ambassador Kirk thanked Secretary Ruiz Mateos and his 
team for their honest and helpful assessment of our partnership. 
He vowed to review two or three of the issues proposed by Mexico 
and see if we could move forward.  In particular, he promised to 
reassess the meat inspection terms of reference document and see if 
there is a way to bridge the gap between declaring it a technical 
document or a trade document.  Ambassador Kirk pressed his point on 
IPR, saying that IPR is a key to increasing Mexico's 
competitiveness.  If ex-officio authority for prosecutors to take 
up IPR cases becomes law, Kirk said, he would consider an 
out-of-cycle review to determine whether to remove Mexico from the 
Special 301 Watch List.  On trucking, he told the GOM that there is 
now a window of opportunity to consult with the U.S. Congress and 
map out a new strategy.  He counseled patience and stressed the 
negative impact of additional retaliatory measures on the process 
of moving forward on this issue.  Both Ambassador Pascual and 
Ambassador Kirk expressed concerns about regulations pending at the 
Ministry of Communications and Transport that would severely 
restrict the operation of U.S. express package firms, pointing out 
that such an action would disrupt Mexican supply chains and reduce 
rather than increase Mexican competitiveness.  Secretary Ruiz 
Mateos said he would check on the status and content of the pending 
 
MEXICO 00000648  003 OF 005 
 
 
regulations.  Ambassador Kirk insisted that he continues to believe 
there is a way to resolve the tuna dispute in a mutually 
satisfactory, non-litigious manner.  He promised to look again at 
the various options, and asked the GOM to look again as well. 
However, he offered that there are times when we need the WTO to 
resolve disputes between two mature trading partners.  On 
shrimp/turtles, Ambassador Pascual asked the GOM to please send the 
USG a copy of its action plan with all haste. 
 
 
 
Meeting with President Calderon 
 
---------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) President Calderon, Chief Economic Advisor Fernandez de 
Castro, and Secretary Ruiz Mateos met briefly with Ambassadors 
Kirk, Pascual and Sapiro.  President Calderon repeated the same 
message that Ambassador Kirk had heard in his various meetings 
throughout Mexico City - that Mexico is a partner and not a 
competitor with the United States; and that the only way for Mexico 
or the United States to compete in the global market is to increase 
our mutually beneficial competitiveness.  He said that Mexican 
products are increasing their market shares vis-????-vis China and 
India, which suggests that the U.S-Mexico border is functioning 
better.  President Calderon underscored the importance of the rule 
of law - that respect for the rights of others is a fundamental 
tenet as well as a solid basis for economic growth.  Therefore, IPR 
is a key component of his agenda.  On trucking, he understood the 
U.S. domestic politics involved.  He did ask, however, about Buy 
America and whether the United States is willing to negotiate an 
agreement with Mexico similar to that with Canada.  Finally, 
President Calderon expressed an interest in the USTR-led Trade and 
Climate Initiative. 
 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Ambassador Kirk responded that President Obama supports 
an aggressive trade agenda, and referred to the President's State 
of the Union Address in which he vowed to double U.S. exports in 
five years.  Mexican inputs are key to this growth, he said.  On 
the various trade irritants, Ambassador Kirk promised that the USG 
will work on the trucking issue and that we will continue to seek a 
non-litigious resolution to the tuna issue.  He told President 
Calderon that the United States is willing to have the same 
conversation with Mexico as it has had with Canada on Buy America 
under the Government Procurement Act.  Finally, he promised to 
follow up with Secretary Ruiz Mateos on the Trade and Climate 
Initiative. 
 
 
 
GE HQ Visit 
 
-------------- 
 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU) As part of his outreach to large U.S. businesses 
operating in Mexico, Ambassadors Kirk, Pascual and Sapiro met with 
senior executives of GE Mexico.  The discussion focused on GE's 
activities in Mexico, with an emphasis on GE's clean energy 
business.  GE Mexico highlighted its 14 aeroderivative turbines 
operating around Mexico City.  These 45MW power generators run on 
clean natural gas, roughly half the emissions of coal-burning 
facilities, and help to provide system stability and grid support 
to enable the addition of more renewables while reducing 
electricity losses through "distributed" generation.  The core 
engines in these machines are manufactured in Cincinnati and the 
 
MEXICO 00000648  004 OF 005 
 
 
packaging is completed in Houston.  Ambassador Kirk was pleased to 
learn of the extent of production that occurs in the United States, 
and wanted to make sure that GE Mexico had the support of the USG 
in continuing its efforts to employ U.S. technologies and 
innovation to reduce the environmental footprint of Mexican energy 
as well as Mexico's dependency on its shrinking petroleum 
resources.  GE also provided an update on its participation in a 
bid to supply wind power in Manzanillo with gas turbines from 
Greenville, SC.  (Note:  On February 11, the GOM notified GE that 
it had won the contract, which will be the largest repowered 
combined cycle facility in Latin America.  End note.) 
 
 
 
Roundtable Discussion with SMEs 
 
----------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶10.  (SBU) FCS Mexico City hosted a roundtable discussion with 
Ambassadors Kirk, Pascual and Sapiro, and a dozen U.S.-Mexican 
company representatives, to discuss some of the binational trade 
challenges experienced by SMEs.  Topics included cross-border 
shipping and logistics, IPR and trademark violations, clean energy 
project financing, and double-taxation issues.  Agricultural 
concerns were also raised, including Mexican regulations regarding 
heat-treated pallets, labeling laws, and railway theft.  The 
cross-border trucking dispute was also discussed, with participants 
noting that it had caused U.S. producers to lose Mexican market 
share to competitors (primarily from Chile).  Small companies also 
raised concerns about the difficulty in participating in government 
procurements, and that they do not receive the same level of 
support and promotion from the USG as their foreign competitors 
(e.g. Europe, India, China).  Ambassador Kirk remarked on President 
Obama's plan to increase U.S. exports, and the USTR's intent to 
better integrate SMEs into the international trade arena. 
Ambassador Kirk also encouraged the companies to explore export 
financing options available through the Small Business 
Administration and the Export Import Bank, which under the new 
National Export Initiative will now be required to provide at least 
20 percent of their financing to qualified SMEs. 
 
 
 
Dinner IHO Ambassador Kirk 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶11.  (SBU) At a dinner hosted by Ambassador Pascual at his 
residence in Ambassador Kirk's honor, Ambassador Kirk remarked on 
the current difficulties in explaining the benefits of trade and 
North American integration to domestic constituencies.  However, he 
and others in the USG are making this case domestically throughout 
the United States.  He told the dinner guests that energy and 
climate change are two potential areas for cooperation, and 
stressed the importance of intellectual property rights as key to 
increasing Mexico's competitive edge.  Several senior executives of 
U.S. multinationals operating in Mexico were joined by local 
academics and experts in emphasizing the interdependence of the 
U.S. and Mexican economies and the importance of making North 
America competitive in order to better compete against China and 
others.  Increasing trade with Mexico, one consultant opined, is 
the best way for the United States to diversify its China risk. 
All were in agreement that NAFTA has succeeded beyond expectations, 
but as one person put it, the question now is whether or not North 
American integration will continue in an orderly manner.  A local 
academic commented that NAFTA did not address the political 
narrative of North America, and that now we must "democratize" 
 
MEXICO 00000648  005 OF 005 
 
 
NAFTA and ensure that the benefits of this trade agreement are 
spread further.  Participants also raised the cross-border trucking 
dispute as perhaps the most significant obstacle to moving forward 
on a positive economic agenda. 
 
 
 
Comment 
 
------------- 
 
 
 
¶12.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Ambassador Kirk's visit was enormously helpful 
in advancing our trade dialogue with Mexico, in part due to his 
willingness and authority to discuss bilateral irritants in a 
forthright and pragmatic manner.  The GOM was very pleased with the 
visit, which struck the right tone and set the stage for potential 
ways forward on these long-standing trade irritants.  As 
importantly, Kirk's strong encouragement to all interlocutors that 
they work towards a positive economic agenda to enhance the two 
countries' competitiveness reinforced usefully the Embassy's 
messaging on this issue over the past several months.  Post looks 
forward to working with USTR on developing a work plan that would 
advance our strategic trade partnership with Mexico, as well as 
establish our top priorities to improve Mexico's, and our, 
competitiveness.  END COMMENT. 
FEELEY