Mexican official: Integration with US ‘must continue’

The economic integration of the United States and Mexico will continue no matter who wins the White House in November, according to Mexico’s secretary of agriculture.

Secretary José Calzada Rovirosa told The Hill in an interview that immigration is no longer the crux of the U.S.-Mexico relationship. The emergence of the two countries as strategic allies, he said, “not only can, but must” continue.

{mosads}Calzada’s remarks come at a time when the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump, has taken a hard line against the Mexican government, vowing to build a border wall and force them to foot the bill.

The Republican has also threatened to renegotiate or withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), one of the linchpins of increased trade with Mexico.

Trump’s rhetoric has at times drawn fierce criticism from current and former Mexican officials, with some calling the candidate “ignorant” and comparing him to Hitler.

But Mexican officials have adopted a more careful tone since late spring, when it became clear that Trump was on the verge of clinching the GOP nomination.

Calzada did not mention Trump or presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by name in his interview with The Hill, speaking only in broad outlines about policy issues in the U.S. relationship.

But it’s clear that many of the issues highlighted by Trump, including immigration and trade, are now at the forefront.

Calzada said the Mexican government is opening talks with the U.S. and states such as Arizona and California to expand temporary farm worker permits for Mexican laborers to work in American fields. 

Historically, Mexican farm workers migrated temporarily to pick crops in the United States and returned home in the winter to take advantage of the second growing season allowed by Mexico’s tropical weather. 

But immigration laws passed in 1996 made it more difficult for undocumented workers to return to the United States. As a result, many Mexican workers have decided to settle in the United States, where the farm work is more profitable.

Calzada, who is in Washington, D.C., for meetings with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, said harmonization of agricultural rules between the three NAFTA partners — the United States, Mexico and Canada — is a major factor in the region’s “vigorous” agricultural commerce.

Mexico is the United States’s third largest agricultural export market, accounting for 13 percent, or $19.5 billion dollars, of U.S. agricultural exports, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The United States consumes 82 percent of Mexico’s agricultural exports, amounting to $26.6 billion last year. 

The USDA in April released new proposed regulations on the treatment of farm animals to qualify for certification as organic meat. Thanks to that harmonization of rules, Calzada said, U.S. authorities will automatically validate the organic certifications of the Mexican and Canadian governments.

In the 20 years since NAFTA came into effect, “the intensity of our relationship has forced us to have better procedures” in the agricultural sector, Calzada said.

Agricultural trade has also benefited from differences in climate, soils and other factors that create what Calzada called “complementary” production. Mexico is better suited for the development of produce — its tomatoes and avocados are major export products — while the United States is better equipped to produce grain.

The Agriculture Secretariat (SAGARPA) spent $1.79 million on Washington firms to lobby the United States government between January 2015 and April 2016, according to the most recent disclosure forms tallied by The Hill.

By K Street standards, the sum is a fairly sizable amount for a foreign lobbying contract, especially since it is only focused on a single government department.

Law and lobby firm Greenberg Traurig is leading the charge, having worked for the department since 2005. Last year, it bolstered the SAGARPA team by subcontracting with Ira Shapiro Global Strategies, a firm run by a Clinton administration trade negotiator.

Over the last year, Greenberg has organized meetings with officials at the State Department, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the USDA, including with Vilsack, according to documents filed to the Justice Department.

The forms say that the firm has been working on issues involving trade deals, the World Trade Organization, Country of Origin Labeling regulations, and Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing.