Border issues top agenda at North American officials’ meeting

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
Monday, February 26, 2007 6:12 PM CST

OTTAWA — Senior officials from the United States, Canada and Mexico opened talks Friday to hash out ways to thwart cross-border security threats, cope with a potential bird flu outbreak and boost North American trade.

With growing Mexican and Canadian concerns about U.S. border restrictions imposed since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez were meeting their counterparts from the two countries to consider cooperation on the issues.

Hosted by Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay, the gathering of the two-year-old Security and Prosperity Partnership is expected to result in recommendations for President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon to consider at a summit later this year in Canada.

Neither Rice, MacKay or Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa made any public comment as they entered the talks at the Canadian foreign ministry where a small group of anti-U.S. protesters huddled outside in freezing temperatures.

The officials were also meeting with the North American Competitiveness Council — a group of business leaders — to hear suggestions on protecting thriving flows of commerce and people that some fear may be crippled by U.S. border restrictions.

With a combined gross domestic product of $15 trillion — overwhelmingly from the U.S. — the three nations exchange goods and services worth nearly $1 trillion and see about 500 million legal border crossings a year, U.S. statistics indicate.

The value of U.S. exports to Canada over a single bridge — the Ambassador linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario — is greater than that of U.S. exports to Japan, they show.

Friday’s meeting follows Chertoff’s announcement Thursday that children will be exempt from new rules requiring travelers to show passports when entering the U.S. at land or sea borders.

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