Obama and Mexico's Calderon to talk drug war, trade

By Catherine Bremer

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Battling with spiraling drug murders and an economic crisis, Mexico's Felipe Calderon will urge U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Monday to support his drug war and stick to the NAFTA trade deal.

Their meeting in Washington, days before Obama takes office, comes after years of complaints of neglect from Mexico and much of Latin America as President George W. Bush's foreign policy focused on the Middle East and the war on terror.

With Mexico's drug violence exploding and fears that Obama could tamper with the North American Free Trade Agreement to protect U.S. workers, Calderon will try to persuade the Democrat to give Mexico some attention.

Following a tradition that new U.S. presidents meet their Mexican counterparts, Calderon will be the first foreign leader that Obama sits down with since he was elected in November.

Calderon, a dour and strong-willed conservative, is expected to ask Obama for more help fighting the drug cartels who worry foreign investors and are destabilizing Mexico, especially along the U.S. border.

Mexico wants Washington to do more to curb drug-taking in the United States and gun smuggling from north of the border because drug hitmen buy automatic weapons and other guns legally in the United States and bring them back to Mexico to use in the turf battles that killed 5,700 people last year.

"Drug trafficking is not a Mexican problem. It is impacting both societies and the criminals are operating in U.S. territory," said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"There is an opportunity for the Obama administration to address the issue from a public health standpoint... We can put people in jail but we are not addressing the root causes of the problem," said Peschard-Sverdrup, who was to dine with Calderon on Sunday evening before he meets Obama.