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FACTBOX - Some facts about U.S.-Mexico ties
11 Jan 2009 15:29:38 GMT
 Source: Reuters
Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama meets Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Washington on Monday to discuss immigration, security, trade and the economy.

Here are some facts about the issues likely to be discussed:

THE DRUG WAR

* Mexican cartels smuggle some $40 billion worth of illegal drugs every year into the United States, the world's biggest market for narcotics. The drug gangs arm themselves with huge arsenals of smuggled U.S. weapons.

* Some 5,700 people were killed last year by drug cartels in turf battles with rival gangs and fights with the Mexican military, sent in by Calderon to try to stop the violence. U.S. officials worry the killing could spill over the border into the United States.

* The United States has so far released almost $300 million in anti-drug aid for Mexico under the so-called Merida Initiative, a three-year, $1.4 billion package for Mexico and Central America pledged by President George W. Bush during a visit to Merida, Mexico, in March 2007.

IMMIGRATION

* An estimated 12 million undocumented workers and their children live in the United States, slightly more than half of them Mexican.

* Obama won two-thirds of the Hispanic vote in the presidential election and many hope he will pass reforms to give more immigrants legal status.

* At least 4,500 Mexicans have died trying to cross illegally into the United States since Washington sharply increased border controls in 1994, according to immigrant rights groups based on data from the Mexican foreign ministry.

TRADE AND THE ECONOMY

* Since the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, took effect on Jan 1, 1994, U.S.-Mexico trade more than quadrupled to around $350 billion a year.

* Hundreds of factories stand along Mexico's border with the United States, and only China and Canada sell more goods to America.

* Mexico is a leading supplier of crude oil to the United States and U.S. carmakers have around a dozen factories in Mexico. (Reporting by Robin Emmott in Monterrey; Editing by Kieran Murray)


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Last updated:Sun Jan 11 15:31:17 2009