In a trip billed as vitally important to New Jersey’s economic interests, Chris Christie will be shaking hands with Mexico’s president and talking with CEOs from the country’s largest companies when he arrives Wednesday for a three-day trade mission.
But the excursion could be even more critical to Christie should he seek the Republican party’s nomination for president. The trip gives him an opportunity to burnish his own international credentials and make inroads with Latino voters, said Brigid Harrison, political science professor at Montclair University.
"In traveling to Mexico, Gov. Christie has the opportunity to nurture his relationship with Latino voters, and highlight the strong support he has received from Latino voters to a national GOP constituency," Harrison said. "He also has the opportunity to appear as an international statesmen on the world stage."
The governor is slated to give two keynote addresses his first day in the country, including one hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, focusing on economics. He also will meet with Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto the day he arrives.
Christie’s itinerary includes participating in conversations about higher education, and attending meetings with the Mexican Business Council, a group of CEOs of leading Mexican companies.
The VIP treatment reflects how vital Mexico and New Jersey are to each others’ economies. New Jersey exported more than $2.1 billion in goods to Mexico last year and imported more than $3.4 billion the same year, according to the administration.
When the trip first announced, Robert Grady, a former Bush administration official and a key Christie economic advisor who helped plan the excursion, said the economic value of the trip to the state couldn’t be overstated.
"It’s hugely important," he said, explaining there’s "certainly a huge economic relationship" between Mexico and the Garden State.
The governor will also carve out some time to visit Puebla, located southwest of Mexico City. Many New Jersey Mexican Americans hail from this city, said Amy Cradic, the governor’s deputy chief of staff for policy.
It’s his second international trip as governor and the first since being reelected to a second term late last year. Choose New Jersey, a Garden State economic development organization, is paying his way.
"It’s going to be beneficial to New Jersey and beneficial to our citizens," said Christie during a recent conference with reporters discussing the trip. "I think it will be an exciting trip," that will "enhance economic and cultural ties" between the Garden State and Mexico.
How deeply Christie wades into international politics remains to be seen.
The governor has been outspoken in recent weeks about the waves of undocumented children from Central America pouring over the border from Mexico into the United States. Christie has repeatedly blasted President Barack Obama for his handling of the immigration situation, saying as recently as last month that Obama’s refusal to visit the United States’ southern borders with Mexico was "an indication of (his) unwillingness to lead."
However, Christie said last week a visit to the border isn’t on the agenda.
"What would I do exactly? Like, you know, bring troops with me or something? I mean come on," Christie said during a news conference in Sea Bright. "This is silliness. If I went down there and looked at it, what steps am I supposed to take exactly? Send the New Jersey National Guard there?"
The governor also said that while immigration isn’t on his list of topics to discuss, he’s willing to engage in immigration talks if they come up.
"Whatever issues they want to talk about I’ll be happy to discuss, but my thrust down there is to try and strengthen our economic ties," Christie said during the public event. "That’s what my agenda is."
Another thing Christie said he won’t do during the trip: speak Spanish.
"You have to know what you’re good at and what you’re not good at," he said. "I have never been really good at foreign languages. I tried in high school. I tried in college. And I never had an aptitude for it.
"I think the worst thing in the world is when politicians try to fake it," the governor added. "You know they’ve got a few things written in a foreign language and they say it and they sound stupid and everybody knows they don’t really know what they’re talking about. I’m not going to do that."
