Rep. Pearce attends discussions in Mexico
Republican joins group to talk about trade, border security, immigration
Rep. Steve Pearce is among a dozen members of the U.S. House who met with Mexican government officials in Mexico City on Monday to discuss trade relations, border security, immigration and other issues.
The U.S.–Mexico Inter-Parliamentary Group, a bipartisan contingent of U.S. House members appointed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, met with members of the Mexican Congress and other officials. Pearce, a Republican who represents New Mexico’s border with Mexico, is among the newer members of the inter-parliamentary group.
In a Journal interview before he left for Mexico, Pearce said the meeting comes “at an extremely important time” in the U.S.-Mexico relationship.
“It’s a once-a-year exchange effort and it is fully bipartisan,” he said. “It is intended to be an outreach between governments and not political. “There is a desire for positive interaction on what can we do to facilitate cooperative projects between the two nations.”
The Mexican visit comes as multilateral talks on revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada are expected to begin in August.
The trip also comes amid President Donald Trump’s continued call for the construction of a border wall between Mexico and the United States. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has said the wall is unnecessary and that his government won’t pay for it, as Trump has asserted. Pearce, while a supporter of many Trump policy proposals, has said repeatedly that he opposes the proposed wall because it would be impractical and ineffective. Pearce does support other border security enhancement measures.
The New Mexico congressman said he doubted the wall would dominate the congressional group’s talk with the Mexican officials.
He said he expected the meeting to focus on economic opportunities.
“How can we move this relationship forward and how can your business guy work with us to improve our business opportunities, and the opportunities for jobs in Mexico and the U.S. both,” Pearce said. “How can we join together to fight off the heavy encroachment of cheap products from other parts of the world? I think it’s going to be very positive on how can we forge this relationship in this new era. The Trump administration is very much on board with this.“