Davis in Mexico to Meet With Fox, Boost Trade and Tourism

Hoping to further cement business and political ties here and in California, Gov. Gray Davis landed here Sunday for a meeting with President Vicente Fox at Los Pinos today, and to sign a trade agreement with the new governor of Baja California.

Davis is leading an entourage of about 60 state officials and business and labor leaders on what is his fourth trip to Mexico as governor. The trip probably will be short on major developments. But the Democratic governor hopes to use his roughly 48 hours in Mexico City to encourage more tourism and trade with Mexico, which is California’s No. 1 trading partner, ahead of Japan and Canada.

“There is no more important relationship for California than the relationship with Mexico,” the governor said Sunday. “We need to continue to show respect and attention to this relationship.”

The governor is using the trip to show he is trying to jump-start the state’s economy, while also blunting any inroads into his Latino support that Republican challengers, most prominently former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, hope to make in the November election.

Davis visited Mexico 28 days after he was inaugurated in January 1999. It was the first concrete act on his campaign promise of repairing Mexico-California relations, which had been strained after Republican Gov. Pete Wilson pushed for passage of Proposition 187, the anti-illegal immigration initiative of 1994.

Davis came here last year to attend Fox’s inauguration. Fox, in turn, visited California earlier this year. The two have agreed to visit each other twice a year.

“Sometimes, people in the United States overlook the real damage that was done in the mid-’90s,” Davis said, referring to anger in Mexico over Proposition 187. “We have turned this relationship around 180 degrees to the benefit of people on both sides of the border.”

The California Trade and Commerce Agency estimates that California-made exports to Mexico amounted to about $19 billion in 2000, up from $12 billion in 1998. Electronic equipment, industrial machinery and computers accounted for more than half the state’s exports. Exports to Mexico account for 228,000 jobs, according to the state agency. Mexico’s exports to California totaled $17.6 billion in 2000.

In addition to his audience with Fox, Davis will meet today with Eugenio Elorduy Walther, governor of Baja, and sign an agreement calling for expanded trade and tourism, along with cultural and scientific exchanges.

Davis also plans to discuss ways of speeding commercial border crossings, which have slowed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City and on the Pentagon. Mike Flores, Davis’ foreign affairs secretary, said that while border security is a federal responsibility, the state will push for use of technology such as X-ray machines to help speed inspections of trucks. A system for identifying truckers who commonly make the crossing also is being considered.

More than any agreement or announcement of new business development, the trip is indicative of Davis’ effort to improve relations with Mexico, which helps politically in California.

“If you’re a Mexican American living in California or are part of the government in Mexico, you don’t see the governor’s attempts to repair relations as purely symbolic. It has real value,” said Garry South, Davis’ chief campaign strategist, citing benefits ranging from tourism and trade to improved health care for Latinos in California.

In a sense, the governor is playing to his strength. While Davis has lagged in opinion polls for much of the year, his standing among Latinos appears to be especially strong. A poll taken at the end of September by the political consulting firm Public Strategies showed that 47% of the overall voting population viewed Davis favorably, while 58% of Latino voters thought well of him.

“It is stature building to meet with President Fox,” said Democratic consultant Darry Sragow of Public Strategies. “It is reinforcing with his Latino base, and it is stature building with everybody.”