After Mexico Meetings, Cox Sees O.C. Profits : Trade: Newport Beach GOP congressman leads business leaders in meetings with President Salinas.

Returning from a recent meeting with Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) said Wednesday that Orange County could be one of the nation’s biggest benefactors of better trade relations between the two countries.

Cox said that the county is already California’s second-largest exporting area after Silicon Valley and that the possibilities offered by a proposed free trade agreement with Mexico could propel the county’s international businesses to No. 1.

“As far as California is concerned, Orange County probably has the most to gain,” Cox said. “And California, of course, has the most to gain of any state from this agreement.”

Cox returned Tuesday from a trip to Mexico. He was accompanied by several county business leaders interested in exploring opportunities created by dramatic recent changes in Mexico’s economy, as well as the possibility of a free trade agreement with Mexico.

Cox organized the trip to generate interest in the proposed agreement by demonstrating its potential benefits. The group met with Salinas and several top government and commerce officials.

The proposed trade agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada is being negotiated and is expected to be submitted to Congress later this year.

The accord is controversial and could become a political football in an election year. Critics of the plan--particularly Democrats--say it would send U.S. jobs south of the border as U.S. companies seek cheaper labor and fewer regulations.

But proponents, such as Cox, say the benefits are substantial.

Instead of reducing U.S. jobs, Cox said, he believes that the agreement will increase domestic opportunities, as companies expand to compete in a new market. And significantly, Salinas has argued that better economic conditions in Mexico will substantially decrease illegal immigration into the United States.

Cox was joined on the trip by Safi Qureshey, president of AST Research in Irvine; Mark Johnson, president of Chapin Medical; Jerry Boyle, regional manager of CH2M Hill; Brandon Birtcher of Birtcher Equities; William Adams of O’Melveny & Myers, and Henry Baray, vice president of the Restaurant Enterprises Group Inc.

As a result of the trip, Cox said, he is planning to hold a meeting this spring for more than 100 county business leaders to hear from Cabinet-level officials in the Mexican government. Cox said three top officials in Mexico have agreed to attend such a meeting to discuss the business opportunities being created.

Since Salinas took office about three years ago, Mexico has made drastic changes in its economy by privatizing many of its industries--including banks. It has also substantially lowered corporate taxes in Mexico and reduced many of its tariffs on imports.

Cox and others on the trip said the business opportunities in Mexico are already much improved, even without the agreement.

“I think probably the most informative thing for the group was looking at the changes they have made fundamentally--independent of the free trade agreement,” Qureshey said.

“This is the first time this has really occurred to me: Their country is really poised for growth even without the free trade agreement,” he said.