Bush, Salinas Try to Put Trade Pact on Fast Track : Economics: The presidents shift focus from drugs and immigration. Both hope to head off protectionists.

President Bush and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari on Monday opened two days of meetings intended to put approaching negotiations for a free-trade agreement on a fast track and to lay the groundwork to head off potential opposition from special interest groups.

Recognizing the possible roadblocks facing an agreement, Salinas said in an interview with the Monterrey newspaper El Norte that he is concerned “with some protectionist attitudes that are arising in the United States,” which, he said, could grow worse if the U.S. economy weakens in a recession.

The two met at the Salinas family’s expansive home in the desert ranching community of Agualeguas, about 40 miles south of the Texas border, before returning to Monterrey for the night.

Monterrey, Mexico’s third-largest city, is an industrial center that was chosen as the site for the talks to highlight the expectation that U.S.-Mexican trade will expand beyond its current level of $52 billion a year if an agreement is reached to drop nearly all tariffs and other trade barriers.

For the 42-year-old Harvard-educated Salinas, the visit by Bush offers an opportunity to “show he has a special relationship” with the U.S. President--suddenly a political plus in Mexico after generations of politicians sought to demonstrate their independence from Washington, a White House official said.

But White House officials made clear that in the view of the Bush Administration, the journey--coming right after Bush’s exhausting tour of Europe and the Middle East and one week before a long excursion to South America--is little more than a courtesy call demonstrating support for what they are calling “a new-generation leader.”

By turning the spotlight on trade, the visit reflects a recent shift--perhaps on the surface, perhaps deeper--in the political dialogue between the United States and Mexico. Previous presidential meetings, which occur as often as every six months, have focused more on such sore points as unchecked Mexican immigration to the United States and the flow of drugs northward across the border.

Salinas’ surprise announcement during a visit to Washington last June that he would push for a free-trade agreement has received a warm reception at the White House and helped shift the focus of the U.S.-Mexican relationship away from the perennial problems that have defied solution.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater shrugged off the suggestion that as economic problems in the United States rise, labor unions would press the Administration to back off a tariff-trimming agreement that would siphon jobs to cheaper Mexican labor markets.

“We want a free-trade agreement that would create jobs,” he said, suggesting that it would bring long-range benefits to the U.S. economy.

Nevertheless, Bush is likely to encounter greater difficulties in winning approval for such an agreement than would Salinas, who already has the support of a Senate controlled by his Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Negotiations on a trade agreement are expected to begin next spring, with a goal of wrapping them up in 1992. The agreement, similar to one that went into effect two years ago with Canada, would be a major step toward Bush’s goal of a hemisphere free-trade zone stretching from Argentina to Canada. On Sunday, the President will embark on a weeklong trip to Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela to promote, among other things, his “Enterprise of the Americas” initiative.

As seen by the White House, elimination of trade barriers would stimulate U.S. exports, creating jobs at home by boosting production. Mexican tariffs on U.S. goods already have been reduced from an import-discouraging 100%, in many cases, to an average of 9%.

From the Mexican viewpoint, an agreement would help stimulate the flow of U.S. capital to Mexico, bringing with it jobs, technology and management skills--all benefits to the economy that are needed to discourage emigration. The government also wants access to U.S. markets for such Mexican goods as textiles, vegetables and cement.

Two areas that were originally thought to be obstacles to an agreement--the flow of Mexican workers to the United States and U.S. investment access to the lucrative Mexican oil industry--have been relegated to a back seat in the negotiations. Salinas has said the trade talks would not deal with Mexican emigration, and U.S. Special Trade Representative Carla Hills, who accompanied Bush to Monterrey, said the United States will not demand that the state-owned oil monopoly be opened to foreign investors.

Bush and Salinas started their day together in Agualeguas, where they attended a Mexican rodeo at the Lionzo Charro Adriana Margarita arena, named for Salinas’ sister, then watched folk dancing in the town plaza.

They met for lunch and informal private talks at the Salinas residence before flying by helicopter to Monterrey, where the official start of the state visit was marked by a hail of confetti and speeches in the city’s dramatically lit main plaza just after sundown.

“Mexico today is the country of manana, “ Salinas said, “but not because we leave for later what has to be done. Rather it is because we Mexicans now act resolutely with our efforts, work and unity to take this great step toward our new future.”

Bush responded, “We want to work together toward the free and open trade so vital to creating jobs and enterprise in your economy and our own.”

At day’s end, Fitzwater said that in addition to trade issues, Bush and Salinas discussed increased U.S.-Mexican cooperation in anti-drug efforts, violence along the U.S.-Mexican border and developments in El Salvador, where both nations favor a cease-fire between the government and leftist rebels.