Obama, Calderon, Harper talk trade, energy

By MARK S. SMITH
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) —

President Barack Obama is convening a summit with leaders from Mexico and Canada on Monday that aims to boost a fragile

recovery and grapple with thorny energy issues against a backdrop of painfully high gas prices.

The session at the White House is a make-good for a planned

meeting last November in Hawaii on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific summit. Obama ended up meeting just with Canadian Prime

Minister Stephen Harper when Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s top deputy was killed in a helicopter crash.

Sure to

feature prominently in Monday’s Oval Office session: Mexico’s role as a major oil exporter and the controversial Keystone

XL oil pipeline from Canada that Obama has shelved pending further review.

Republicans denounced Obama’s move as a

blow to job-creation and U.S. energy needs. But he maintains GOP leaders in Congress forced his hand by insisting on a

decision before an acceptable pipeline route was found.

The pipeline would link Alberta’s oil sands to the U.S. Gulf

Coast, but environmentalists fear both its local impact and a major uptick in greenhouse gases blamed for global

warming.

Harper has voiced disappointment with Obama’s decision. He also visited China in February to explore

alternatives. Canada has the world’s third-largest oil reserves – more than 170 billion barrels – after Saudi Arabia and

Venezuela, and daily production of 1.5 million barrels from the oil sands is expected to rise to 3.7 million by

2025.

Trade also topped the North American summit agenda, with Obama hoping that booming exports will help drive the

U.S. recovery. The White House also listed growth and competitiveness, citizen security and climate change as key issues,

along with the agenda for the next summit on the docket, the hemispherewide Summit of the Americas later this month in

Cartagena, Colombia.

Obama, Harper and Calderon are well-known to each other from international gatherings – but are

headed in different electoral directions.

While Obama faces a tough re-election battle for the next seven months,

Calderon is term-limited. The battle to succeed him formally kicked off last week and will culminate with Mexican elections

July 1. The main issue is the deadly war his government has waged with drug cartels, which has claimed an estimated 47,000

lives.

By contrast, Harper, who has led Canada since 2006, appears secure in his job, having led his Conservatives

from minority status to a majority in Parliament in elections last May. He doesn’t have to face voters again for four

years.

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Another reason Obama might envy Harper: thanks to that

majority, the budget Harper’s government introduced last week should pass easily, including its budget cuts designed to

eliminate Canada’s deficit by 2015.