In an interview to be published Wednesday in Policy Options, Ambassador David Wilkins acknowledges that Democratic candidate Barrack Obama has mused about reopening NAFTA, while Republican John McCain is a supporter of the deal as it is.

"Having been involved in politics for 25 years and run for re-election 13 times, I understand campaign rhetoric and I understand that sometimes what one says on the campaign trail is not necessarily the policy one adopts as a leader, as a governor or, in this case, the president," Wilkins says in the interview.

But he says he is confident that whoever is elected president of the United States, "once he gets in office, will understand the benefits to both countries, the magnitude of this trade that NAFTA has created between our two countries and will continue to support it."

Wilkins said he was not attempting to speak for either of the presidential candidates. "Once the election's over, we'll have to see," he said. "But I believe that NAFTA has been beneficial to both countries and I think whoever's the next president will conclude that it's too beneficial to tamper with."

By Geoff Matthews, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , edited by Sarah Sussman, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

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