Mexico's Calderon faces pressure to roll back NAFTA

By Kevin G. Hall, Janet Schwartz and Jay Root
McClatchy Newspapers

URUAPAN, Mexico - Felipe Calderon's contested, razor-thin victory in Mexico's presidential election last month is likely to force his attention toward the underdeveloped south, where poor farmers want to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The treaty with the United States and Canada took effect in 1994, but delayed complete free trade in the most politically sensitive farm products until 2007 and 2008. These include sugar and orange juice imports into the U.S. market and corn and beans into Mexico.

Leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who's mounted a legal challenge to overturn the July 2 election results, promised on the campaign trail to renegotiate NAFTA's agricultural provisions with an eye toward protecting homegrown corn and beans. That helped him carry most of Mexico's south.

Mexico's industrialized north, which has benefited greatly from the trade deal, voted overwhelmingly for Calderon, a pro-business conservative. Over the 12 years of NAFTA's existence, Mexico's north has attracted billions of dollars in investment, much of it from the U.S. auto industry.