Dem Lawmaker After Visiting Mexico: President Sheinbaum Wants A Secure Border As Well

Forbes Breaking News

Congressman Don Davis, co-chair of the For Country Caucus, joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss border security at the southern border of the US.

Transcript

00:00I know I don't need to tell you that the economy and immigration continue to be top

00:05issues facing Americans. And I always love talking with members of the four country caucus because

00:11it's a bipartisan group. And it seems like to me, based on my conversations, that

00:16each party in this group does a really good job of trying to see the other side,

00:21find areas of common ground. Were your takeaways with Republicans down there as well?

00:27Was it the same? Did you guys leave feeling good about the conversations? Did you leave feeling

00:32like we are on the right track when it comes to border security, when it comes to these trade

00:36negotiations? What was that takeaway really between the parties? I believe we're definitely on the

00:42right track when it comes to the border and securing the border. I truly believe, based on the

00:48conversation with the president, the president of Mexico wants to secure a border just as we want

00:53a secure border. And they're taking steps to secure the border. At the same time, we've seen efforts

01:02that are being made to lead for a more secure border. You know, what I would also emphasize in terms of

01:11after taking three trips to the southern border beyond this trip to Mexico, and that is we have to

01:19continue to continue to make sure that we're screening vehicles in particular coming through the ports

01:25of entry. I believe we're moving in the right direction. We have to also continue to look at

01:33drone technology, incursions, and so forth that's taking place. Again, there's a lot going on, a lot of

01:41activity. But I would say we're definitely moving in the right direction. With regards to trade,

01:49I would love to see us move maybe a little, you know, faster with trade. But what is most important

01:58is that we are able to get to stable trade policies, that predictability. Mexico is a great trade partner

02:09with the United States. And this is a very important relationship. Matter of fact, we have so many U.S.

02:19businesses that are up and operating in Mexico, and our economies are so interconnected. We have to get

02:30this right. I would like to see us maybe move this further along. I represent the state of North Carolina,

02:39and Mexico is one of our leading trade partners. So there's so many implications here. And when I think

02:48then of groups such as the Four Country Caucus, I do believe that we are setting the stage to lead by

02:57example, even in the Congress, when you have members who served our country wearing the uniform

03:04that's able to come together and put service above all things. When we look and reflect on the 118th

03:12Congress, we actually endorse as a caucus, and you have to get to a 75% threshold to get to an endorsement.

03:21Over 30 pieces of legislation that was signed into law in the 118th Congress. So far, in the 119th

03:29Congress, we've had about 14 pieces of legislation that we have endorsed so far. So it is important for

03:39Republicans, Democrats, to come to the table on the real way to tackle these issues, the same as when we

03:47talk about the United States and Mexico. It is so important for the conversations to continue. So

03:54after we returned and the president continued, they extended the terms for coming back to the table to

04:06deal with and to allow an opportunity to further develop our trade relations with Mexico. I think

04:17that was hugely important. And we have to continue to foster conversations, we have to show goodwill.

04:25And I believe that was much of this trip as well to show goodwill, just as the president, Mexico has

04:33demonstrated as they're beefing up efforts as well, to show goodwill to the United States.

04:39And it probably was a even better show of goodwill, the fact that it was a bipartisan group that went

04:45down there. And I'm curious, just based on the sense of that meaning, based on meeting with the

04:50business community in Mexico, did you get a sense from them that they really believe that the trade deal,

04:56the trade negotiations with President Trump and America will get beyond the finish line here?

05:01Absolutely. There was so much optimism in the room and not only optimism, but a willingness to sit down

05:11in a real way to have these conversations. And I believe, Brittany, that this is the exact

05:19ingredients that's needed for us to get to stable trade policy.

05:25We will talk about this here, and let's get started.

05:38And we're after the last year, and so we've got a few things around here.

05:43We've got a lot of things around here.

05:45There's a lot of things around here.

05:47And we're over there.

05:48And that's really about the input of our process.

05:50And then we're almost done with that.

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