Peña Nieto, a dynamic politician from an old autocratic political party, has said that he wants to change the conversation about Mexico in the United States, away from headless torsos and drug cartels to trade and manufacturing.
Together with the United States, Peña Nieto and his top advisers say, Mexico wants to drill more oil, assemble more cars and build "better, faster, smarter bridges" to increase the $1 billion-a-day commerce across the 2,000-mile border, the busiest crossing in the world.
Peña Nieto, who took office Saturday, and his team say they are ready to help the Obama administration and the U.S. Congress implement a guest-worker program to regulate the flow of Mexican labor to the United States, where an estimated 6 million Mexicans live illegally.
But his top aides said Peña Nieto hoped to create an economy that is competitive enough to keep more Mexican workers at home.
