Bradley Urges Free Trade With Mexico : Economy: The mayor meets President Salinas in Mexico City and supports his efforts to negotiate an agreement with the U.S.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley met with President Carlos Salinas de Gortari on Wednesday to lend his support to the Mexican leader’s efforts to negotiate a free-trade agreement with the United States.

During the half-hour meeting at the Los Pinos presidential residence, Bradley and Salinas discussed the importance of economic and cultural exchanges between the two countries.

“We talked about a number of things, primarily the need for building a free-trade agreement between the United States and Mexico, establishing a common market between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico,” Bradley said afterward.

Asked about opposition to free trade by some U.S. labor unions concerned about a loss of American jobs, Bradley said, “I don’t share that fear. Jobs, factories, are already being located across the border in Mexico. I believe we can enhance the ability of Mexican workers to get jobs in their own community and thus not be competing for similar kinds of jobs in the United States.”

Salinas and President Bush are scheduled to meet in Monterrey, Mexico, Nov. 26 and 27 for talks that will focus mainly on the free-trade issue.

After Wednesday’s private meeting, Salinas met with members of the Sister Cities Committee traveling with Bradley and agreed to establish a Mexican cultural institute in Los Angeles, according to Roger Diaz Cosio, who heads the government’s program for Mexicans abroad.

Bradley began his two-day trip to Mexico City by inaugurating the annual conference of the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation, a Los Angeles-based human services organization.

“There is something happening in the world today. If the economy of Mexico is to be fully strengthened, if it is to realize its potential, a president who has made dramatic changes in this country and its economic approach to matters has to have our support,” Bradley told the group.

Bradley also met with Mexico City’s regent, or mayor, Manuel Camacho Solis, and agreed to form a bilateral cooperation commission to exchange information on disaster prevention and emergency assistance.