Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will speak at UT-Austin’s campus this afternoon at a symposium focused on U.S. involvement and engagement in Western affairs at an event hosted by the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the LBJ Presidential Library.

Tillerson’s address will start at 1 p.m. He’s expected to outline the State Department’s policies in the Western Hemisphere, as well as call for more diplomatic attention to upheaval in Venezuela.</s>MEXICO CITY, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The United States’ top diplomat arrives in Mexico on Thursday with debate raging over the government’s efforts to win favor with Washington and save the NAFTA trade pact from collapse, sparking concerns it is ceding sovereignty to its northern neighbor.

Mexico has been at pains to prove itself a good ally to the United States on combating drug trafficking and immigration, in hopes this would help efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, a lynchpin for its export-led economy, in as favorable terms as possible.

Those secret efforts sprang into view this week, when Reuters exclusively reported that Mexico is considering allowing U.S. air marshals aboard commercial cross-border flights, igniting a debate over what lengths Mexico should go to in order to win favor with its top trade partner.

“The question is, what else is (Foreign Minister Luis) Videgaray giving to Trump and his collaborators in exchange for preserving NAFTA?” Salvador Garcia Soto asked in his El Universal newspaper column, decrying Videgaray’s “opaque” maneuvering.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is due to have dinner with Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and other attended senior Mexican government and national security officials shortly after his arrival in Mexico City.

Although Tillerson has not been a prominent player in the NAFTA discussions, the future of the treaty is certain to loom over his visit, especially at a trilateral meeting with Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Friday.

Mexico’s government, including the foreign ministry, has pushed hard to defend NAFTA ahead of a July 2018 election in which the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party is currently polling third.

“All our efforts right now are based around NAFTA and making sure the pact doesn’t collapse,” said a senior Mexican diplomat.

Videgaray has said closer cooperation with the United States is the best way to achieve Mexico’s foreign policy aims.

“If NAFTA goes away, obviously that would be something that we strongly want to avoid,” Videgaray said at an event in New York late last year. “We realize that we could achieve much more by being constructive and by approaching the relationship looking for common ground ... with very active cooperation.”

Quizzed by ruling party lawmakers on Tuesday, Videgaray denied the air marshals were part of any NAFTA quid pro quo, but said the government was studying the plan.

Tillerson’s Mexico City visit is the first leg in a week-long Latin America trip in which he expected seek to keep up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro over his restrictions on domestic political opposition.

Tillerson is due to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, and Videgaray for a second time, on Friday, and they are certain to discuss Central American migration and drug trafficking, two areas in which Mexico has sought to work more closely with the United States since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

Last year, as U.S. concern mounted over heroin-related deaths, Mexico bolstered anti-narcotics collaboration, inviting U.S. officials to inspect its opium poppy eradication efforts.

And though once the butt of Trump’s barbs over illegal immigration, Mexico has tried to take a bigger role in limiting the flow of migrants north from Central America.

Videgaray, who flew to Washington earlier this week ahead of Tillerson’s arrival, is Pena Nieto’s most trusted advisor, and has forged close ties with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who serves as a senior advisor to the president.

The influential foreign minister has stepped to the fore of regional Latin American efforts to condemn Maduro’s government and has also proved a good friend to the Trump administration on sensitive foreign policy issues including North Korea, Israel and Honduras.

Former Mexican diplomat and intelligence official Gustavo Mohar said it would be foolish to assume such efforts could yield a positive NAFTA result.

“The priority of Mexico’s foreign policy in the short-term has been to reach an agreement with the Trump government on trade,” he said. “But that doesn’t guarantee you anything, because this guy (Trump) is very unpredictable.” (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Diane Craft)</s>MEXICO CITY, Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray on Friday and discussed security and migration, Mexico's government said.

After the 20-minute meeting, they were joined by Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, said Steve Goldstein, U.S. undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. He said more information would be available later.

Mexico is trying to prove itself a good U.S. ally in hopes of getting a favorable outcome from renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and the United States.

Tillerson, Videgaray and Freeland are expected to hold a news conference in Mexico City on Friday afternoon. Tillerson is also due to meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto. (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Christine Murray; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)</s>MEXICO CITY, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The United States' top diplomat arrives in Mexico on Thursday with debate raging over the government's efforts to win favor with Washington and save the NAFTA trade pact from collapse, sparking concerns it is ceding sovereignty to its northern neighbor.

Mexico has been at pains to prove itself a good ally to the United States on combating drug trafficking and immigration, in hopes this would help efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, a lynchpin for its export-led economy, in as favorable terms as possible.

Those secret efforts sprang into view this week, when Reuters exclusively reported that Mexico is considering allowing U.S. air marshals aboard commercial cross-border flights, igniting a debate over what lengths Mexico should go to in order to win favor with its top trade partner.

"The question is, what else is (Foreign Minister Luis) Videgaray giving to Trump and his collaborators in exchange for preserving NAFTA?" Salvador Garcia Soto asked in his El Universal newspaper column, decrying Videgaray's "opaque" maneuvering.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is due to have dinner with Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and other attended senior Mexican government and national security officials shortly after his arrival in Mexico City.

Although Tillerson has not been a prominent player in the NAFTA discussions, the future of the treaty is certain to loom over his visit, especially at a trilateral meeting with Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Friday.

Mexico's government, including the foreign ministry, has pushed hard to defend NAFTA ahead of a July 2018 election in which the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party is currently polling third.

"All our efforts right now are based around NAFTA and making sure the pact doesn't collapse," said a senior Mexican diplomat.

Videgaray has said closer cooperation with the United States is the best way to achieve Mexico's foreign policy aims.

"If NAFTA goes away, obviously that would be something that we strongly want to avoid," Videgaray said at an event in New York late last year. "We realize that we could achieve much more by being constructive and by approaching the relationship looking for common ground ... with very active cooperation."

Quizzed by ruling party lawmakers on Tuesday, Videgaray denied the air marshals were part of any NAFTA quid pro quo, but said the government was studying the plan.

Tillerson's Mexico City visit is the first leg in a week-long Latin America trip in which he expected seek to keep up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro over his restrictions on domestic political opposition.

Tillerson is due to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, and Videgaray for a second time, on Friday, and they are certain to discuss Central American migration and drug trafficking, two areas in which Mexico has sought to work more closely with the United States since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

Last year, as U.S. concern mounted over heroin-related deaths, Mexico bolstered anti-narcotics collaboration, inviting U.S. officials to inspect its opium poppy eradication efforts.

And though once the butt of Trump's barbs over illegal immigration, Mexico has tried to take a bigger role in limiting the flow of migrants north from Central America.

Videgaray, who flew to Washington earlier this week ahead of Tillerson's arrival, is Pena Nieto's most trusted advisor, and has forged close ties with Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who serves as a senior advisor to the president.

The influential foreign minister has stepped to the fore of regional Latin American efforts to condemn Maduro's government and has also proved a good friend to the Trump administration on sensitive foreign policy issues including North Korea, Israel and Honduras.

Former Mexican diplomat and intelligence official Gustavo Mohar said it would be foolish to assume such efforts could yield a positive NAFTA result.

"The priority of Mexico's foreign policy in the short-term has been to reach an agreement with the Trump government on trade," he said. "But that doesn't guarantee you anything, because this guy (Trump) is very unpredictable." (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Diane Craft)</s>The North American Free Trade Agreement is an important accord for the region — but it's also due for an update, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday during a speech at the University of Texas at Austin.

“I’m a Texan, a former energy executive and also a rancher. I understand how important NAFTA is for our economy and that of the continent,” Tillerson said. But, he added, “it should come as no surprise” that a 30-year-old agreement negotiated before the advent of digital economies and China’s rise to prominence on the world economic stage would “need to be modernized.”

The former ExxonMobil CEO visited his alma mater on the cusp of a weeklong swing through Latin America. He heads Thursday evening to Mexico, and then on to Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Jamaica.

The State Department has said the trip is centered on the “crisis in Venezuela,” where the United States has imposed financial sanctions in an attempt to spur democratic change. But many are more focused on Tillerson's visit to Mexico and its potential impact on ongoing debate over NAFTA.

Tillerson on Thursday took a softer stance on NAFTA than his boss, President Donald Trump, who has proposed to renegotiate — and, at times, even to terminate — the decades-old trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The question over NAFTA's future is particularly urgent in Texas, whose top trade partner is Mexico, with hundreds of billions of dollars generated in two-way trade each year.

Gov. Greg Abbott has praised NAFTA and said he wants it to continue. The fate of the trade deal could turn on the results of Mexico’s July 1 presidential election, as candidates have taken drastically different stances on the issue.

Tillerson also spoke about the region more broadly, emphasizing that collaboration among countries Western hemisphere would bolster all their economies. But that economic growth can only spring from strong, stable governments, he said.

“For prosperity to take root, we must create the conditions for regional stability,” Tillerson said. “Our approach is holistic: We must address security and development issues side by side.”

Squarely in Tillerson’s crosshairs was Venezuela, whose regime he decried as corrupt and exploitative. He is expected to discuss the situation there with Latin American leaders on his upcoming trip, though he will not visit Venezuela itself.

"Venezuelans are starving, looting is common and the sick do not receive the medical attention they desperately need," Tillerson says. "There has been no natural disaster. The Venezuelan people suffer because of a corrupt regime that steals from its own people."

He had similar words for Cuba, where an upcoming regime change is an “opportunity ... to take a new direction.”

“The future of our relationship is up to Cuba,” he said.

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin and ExxonMobil have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
• After a trial balloon went over poorly with Congress, Trump told foreign leaders he won't end the trade agreement just yet. [Full story]
• A number of Texas-based business groups have teamed up to prevent a reversal of the good trade relations with Mexico that Texas has enjoyed since the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect 23 years ago. [Full story]
• Despite all the time Donald Trump spent bashing NAFTA while running, border leaders hope he'll soften his stance as campaign trail rhetoric cools. [Full story]</s>MEXICO CITY, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The United States’ top diplomat arrives in Mexico on Thursday with debate raging over the government’s efforts to win favor with Washington and save the NAFTA trade pact from collapse, sparking concerns it is ceding sovereignty to its northern neighbor.

Mexico has been at pains to prove itself a good ally to the United States on combating drug trafficking and immigration, in hopes this would help efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, a lynchpin for its export-led economy, in as favorable terms as possible.

Those secret efforts sprang into view this week, when Reuters exclusively reported that Mexico is considering allowing U.S. air marshals aboard commercial cross-border flights, igniting a debate over what lengths Mexico should go to in order to win favor with its top trade partner.

“The question is, what else is (Foreign Minister Luis) Videgaray giving to Trump and his collaborators in exchange for preserving NAFTA?” Salvador Garcia Soto asked in his El Universal newspaper column, decrying Videgaray’s “opaque” maneuvering.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is due to have dinner with Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and other attended senior Mexican government and national security officials shortly after his arrival in Mexico City.

Although Tillerson has not been a prominent player in the NAFTA discussions, the future of the treaty is certain to loom over his visit, especially at a trilateral meeting with Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Friday.

Mexico’s government, including the foreign ministry, has pushed hard to defend NAFTA ahead of a July 2018 election in which the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party is currently polling third.

“All our efforts right now are based around NAFTA and making sure the pact doesn’t collapse,” said a senior Mexican diplomat.

Videgaray has said closer cooperation with the United States is the best way to achieve Mexico’s foreign policy aims.

“If NAFTA goes away, obviously that would be something that we strongly want to avoid,” Videgaray said at an event in New York late last year. “We realize that we could achieve much more by being constructive and by approaching the relationship looking for common ground ... with very active cooperation.”

Quizzed by ruling party lawmakers on Tuesday, Videgaray denied the air marshals were part of any NAFTA quid pro quo, but said the government was studying the plan.

Tillerson’s Mexico City visit is the first leg in a week-long Latin America trip in which he expected seek to keep up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro over his restrictions on domestic political opposition.

Tillerson is due to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, and Videgaray for a second time, on Friday, and they are certain to discuss Central American migration and drug trafficking, two areas in which Mexico has sought to work more closely with the United States since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

Last year, as U.S. concern mounted over heroin-related deaths, Mexico bolstered anti-narcotics collaboration, inviting U.S. officials to inspect its opium poppy eradication efforts.

And though once the butt of Trump’s barbs over illegal immigration, Mexico has tried to take a bigger role in limiting the flow of migrants north from Central America.

Videgaray, who flew to Washington earlier this week ahead of Tillerson’s arrival, is Pena Nieto’s most trusted advisor, and has forged close ties with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who serves as a senior advisor to the president.

The influential foreign minister has stepped to the fore of regional Latin American efforts to condemn Maduro’s government and has also proved a good friend to the Trump administration on sensitive foreign policy issues including North Korea, Israel and Honduras.

Former Mexican diplomat and intelligence official Gustavo Mohar said it would be foolish to assume such efforts could yield a positive NAFTA result.

“The priority of Mexico’s foreign policy in the short-term has been to reach an agreement with the Trump government on trade,” he said. “But that doesn’t guarantee you anything, because this guy (Trump) is very unpredictable.” (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Diane Craft)</s>MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told a news conference on Friday that Mexico’s relationship with the United States is tighter with Donald Trump’s government than previous administrations.

“I think in many ways the relationship today is more fluid, it’s closer than it was with previous administrations, which might be surprising to some people but that’s a fact of life,” said Mexico’s top diplomat.

Videgaray spoke alongside U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland in Mexico City.

Freeland said that uncertainty around renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement was not good for business, but that it was important to get it right.

As Videgaray, a former finance minister and longtime aide of President Enrique Pena Nieto, put a good face on U.S.-Mexico relations, he also acknowledged some tensions.

“We do have some differences, as every other country does, but we’ve been working very closely,” said Videgaray. “We’re looking to the future.”</s>MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's foreign relations secretary says it might come as a surprise, but the country's relationship with the United States today is "more fluid, it's closer than it was with previous administrations."

Luis Videgaray said: "It might be surprising to some people, but that's a fact of life."

The comments were made at a joint news conference in Mexico on Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Mexico has had well-known disagreements with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump during the past year over trade, immigration and payment for a proposed border wall.

Tillerson's stop in the country kicked off a six-day Latin America trip that will also take him to Panama, Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Jamaica.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States’ top diplomat landed in Mexico on Thursday with debate swirling over the government’s efforts to win favor with Washington and save the NAFTA pact from collapse, sparking concerns it is ceding sovereignty to its northern neighbor.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson steps off his plane as he arrives to the presidential hangar in Mexico City, Mexico February 1, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Romero

Mexico has been at pains to prove itself a good ally to the United States on combating drug trafficking and immigration, in hopes this would help efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement on as favorable terms as possible.

Those secret efforts sprang into view this week, when Reuters exclusively reported that Mexico is considering allowing U.S. air marshals aboard commercial cross-border flights, igniting a debate over what lengths Mexico should go to in order to win favor with its top trade partner.

“The question is, what else is (Foreign Minister Luis) Videgaray giving to Trump and his collaborators in exchange for preserving NAFTA?” Salvador Garcia Soto asked in his El Universal newspaper column, decrying Videgaray’s “opaque” maneuvering.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson landed in Mexico City on Thursday afternoon and was due to have dinner with Videgaray and other senior Mexican government and national security officials at U.S. Ambassador Roberta Jacobson’s residence.

Although Tillerson has not been a prominent player in the NAFTA discussions, the future of the treaty is certain to loom over his visit, especially at a trilateral meeting with Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Friday.

Mexico’s government, and particularly the foreign ministry, has pushed hard to defend NAFTA, a lynchpin of its export-led economy, ahead of a July 2018 election in which the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party is currently polling third.

“All our efforts right now are based around NAFTA and making sure the pact doesn’t collapse,” said a senior Mexican diplomat.

Videgaray has said closer cooperation with the United States is the best way to achieve Mexico’s foreign policy aims.

“Obviously that would be something that we strongly want to avoid,” Videgaray said at an event in New York late last year, referring to NAFTA collapsing. “We realize that we could achieve much more by being constructive and by approaching the relationship looking for common ground ... with very active cooperation.”

Quizzed by ruling party lawmakers on Tuesday, Videgaray denied the air marshals were part of any NAFTA quid pro quo, but said the government was studying the plan.

CLOSER TIES

Tillerson’s Mexico City visit is the first leg in a week-long Latin America trip in which he hopes to keep up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro over his restrictions on domestic political opposition.

Earlier on Thursday, in a speech at his alma mater University of Texas at Austin, Tillerson raised the prospect that the Venezuelan military could decide to oust President Nicolas Maduro but said he did not know whether that would happen.

Tillerson insisted the Trump administration was not advocating “regime change” in Venezuela but said it would be “easiest” if Maduro chose to leave power on his own.

In his most important regional policy statement since his appointment, Tillerson also warned Latin American countries against excessive reliance on economic ties with China, while sounding alarm over Russia’s growing presence.

Tillerson is due to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, and Videgaray for a second time, on Friday, and they are certain to discuss Central American migration and drug trafficking, two areas in which Mexico has sought to work more closely with the United States since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

Videgaray, who flew to Washington earlier this week ahead of Tillerson’s arrival, is Pena Nieto’s most trusted adviser, and has forged close ties with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who serves as a senior advisor to the president.

The influential foreign minister has stepped to the fore of regional Latin American efforts to condemn Maduro’s government and has also proved a good friend to the Trump administration on sensitive foreign policy issues including North Korea, Israel and Honduras.

Former Mexican diplomat and intelligence official Gustavo Mohar said it would be foolish to assume such efforts could yield a positive NAFTA result.

“The priority of Mexico’s foreign policy in the short-term has been to reach an agreement with the Trump government on trade,” he said. “But that doesn’t guarantee you anything, because this guy (Trump) is very unpredictable.”</s>MEXICO CITY, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The United States’ top diplomat arrives in Mexico on Thursday with debate raging over the government’s efforts to win favor with Washington and save the NAFTA trade pact from collapse, sparking concerns it is ceding sovereignty to its northern neighbor.

Mexico has been at pains to prove itself a good ally to the United States on combating drug trafficking and immigration, in hopes this would help efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, a lynchpin for its export-led economy, in as favorable terms as possible.

Those secret efforts sprang into view this week, when Reuters exclusively reported that Mexico is considering allowing U.S. air marshals aboard commercial cross-border flights, igniting a debate over what lengths Mexico should go to in order to win favor with its top trade partner.

“The question is, what else is (Foreign Minister Luis) Videgaray giving to Trump and his collaborators in exchange for preserving NAFTA?” Salvador Garcia Soto asked in his El Universal newspaper column, decrying Videgaray’s “opaque” maneuvering.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is due to have dinner with Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and other attended senior Mexican government and national security officials shortly after his arrival in Mexico City.

Although Tillerson has not been a prominent player in the NAFTA discussions, the future of the treaty is certain to loom over his visit, especially at a trilateral meeting with Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Friday.

Mexico’s government, including the foreign ministry, has pushed hard to defend NAFTA ahead of a July 2018 election in which the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party is currently polling third.

“All our efforts right now are based around NAFTA and making sure the pact doesn’t collapse,” said a senior Mexican diplomat.

Videgaray has said closer cooperation with the United States is the best way to achieve Mexico’s foreign policy aims.

“If NAFTA goes away, obviously that would be something that we strongly want to avoid,” Videgaray said at an event in New York late last year. “We realize that we could achieve much more by being constructive and by approaching the relationship looking for common ground ... with very active cooperation.”

Quizzed by ruling party lawmakers on Tuesday, Videgaray denied the air marshals were part of any NAFTA quid pro quo, but said the government was studying the plan.

Tillerson’s Mexico City visit is the first leg in a week-long Latin America trip in which he expected seek to keep up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro over his restrictions on domestic political opposition.

Tillerson is due to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, and Videgaray for a second time, on Friday, and they are certain to discuss Central American migration and drug trafficking, two areas in which Mexico has sought to work more closely with the United States since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

Last year, as U.S. concern mounted over heroin-related deaths, Mexico bolstered anti-narcotics collaboration, inviting U.S. officials to inspect its opium poppy eradication efforts.

And though once the butt of Trump’s barbs over illegal immigration, Mexico has tried to take a bigger role in limiting the flow of migrants north from Central America.

Videgaray, who flew to Washington earlier this week ahead of Tillerson’s arrival, is Pena Nieto’s most trusted advisor, and has forged close ties with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who serves as a senior advisor to the president.

The influential foreign minister has stepped to the fore of regional Latin American efforts to condemn Maduro’s government and has also proved a good friend to the Trump administration on sensitive foreign policy issues including North Korea, Israel and Honduras.

Former Mexican diplomat and intelligence official Gustavo Mohar said it would be foolish to assume such efforts could yield a positive NAFTA result.

“The priority of Mexico’s foreign policy in the short-term has been to reach an agreement with the Trump government on trade,” he said. “But that doesn’t guarantee you anything, because this guy (Trump) is very unpredictable.” (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Diane Craft)
United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives in Mexico to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto and Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray.