Trade Talks in ‘Final Stage,’ Bush Says
SAN DIEGO — President Bush said Tuesday that negotiations to reach a free-trade agreement with Mexico are in “the final stage†and that he and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari are instructing negotiators to bring the pact “to an early conclusion.â€
Bush and Salinas met for about an hour at the San Diego Mission on Tuesday afternoon before attending the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
“We are literally entering the top of the 9th,†Bush said of the negotiations. The talks are scheduled to resume July 25.
Bush said he also assured Salinas that the United States has “no intention†of kidnaping another Mexican citizen to bring him to trial in this country.
The Supreme Court ruled June 15 that U.S. agents can kidnap suspects abroad for trial in this country. The ruling has drawn sharp criticism from Mexico, where the abduction of Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain, accused of participating in the 1985 murder of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique S. Camarena, was seen as an infringement of Mexico’s sovereignty.
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