SACRAMENTO -- Since his inauguration nearly a year ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has rallied U.S. troops in Germany, attended a state funeral in Austria, dined with the king of Jordan at his palace, toured ancient sites in Israel and joked with the Japanese prime minister in Tokyo.
But there is one conspicuous omission from his foreign sojourns: Mexico.
The globe-trotting governor -- who is planning trips to Europe and China next year -- has virtually ignored Mexico, California's biggest trading partner and a source of tension over immigration and environmental issues. Aides say he may take a one-day trip to Baja, but nothing comparable to the high-profile diplomatic excursion last week to Japan, the state's second-largest trading partner.
Although his films have been popular in Mexico, Schwarzenegger's political views have been derided there. For a year, Mexican media have hammered the governor for opposing driver's licenses for illegal immigrants in California, and the issue has reverberated throughout the country.
Two weeks ago, Mexican President Vicente Fox abruptly canceled a three-day trip to San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento that had been planned to start Nov. 29. Presidential aides said Fox wanted to discuss the driver's license issue but was told there would be no concessions from Schwarzenegger.
"President Fox would have returned home empty-handed on driver's licenses," said presidential spokesman Agustin Gutierrez Canet. "We decided to wait until the political conditions are better."
The relationship between California and Mexico has been a complex and shifting alliance colored by ethnicity, trade and political maneuvering on both sides of the border. Mexicans have been particularly sensitive about being respectfully portrayed by California politicians, and California politicians often use Mexican immigrants as political scapegoats or allies to court.
Mexican officials told the Schwarzenegger administration that the Fox trip had been canceled because the president was busy with the national budget but that a meeting could occur next year. Margita Thompson, chief spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, said relations between the countries had not chilled: High-level aides meet frequently, and the Department of Motor Vehicles is working with Mexico on coordinating databases.
