President Barack Obama will travel to Mexico today to meet with President Felipe Calderon before heading to the fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on Friday. The three-day Summit, which marks the president’s first trip to Latin America and the Caribbean, will bring together leaders from 34 nations throughout the region to discuss a wide range of issues.

Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon

At the top of the agenda for Obama and other world leaders will be the global recession and the accompanying problems of high poverty, social inequality, and rising crime. Proposed actions to combat the economic downturn will focus on regional trade expansion and integration. This comes in response to what many leaders fear could be a return to protectionist trade policies. There have also been calls to increase the flow of credit to developing countries, which are most at risk from the recession.

Central to these plans will be the strength of the U.S. economy and the approval of sustainable and balanced trade policies within the region. Vice President Joe Biden expressed this sentiment in a recent op-ed, stating that “our economic interconnection means that a robust U.S. economy is good for the hemisphere and can become an engine for bottom up economic growth and equality throughout the region.” Free trade agreements with Panama and Colombia are currently pending in Congress.

Also important will be the need for secure, renewable and clean energy sources. Obama has praised Brazil and Colombia for leading the way in biofuel development in the region. But controversy has surrounded the limited access to the U.S. market for these products due to high import tariffs and other trade restrictions.

In a news conference last month with Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Obama pointed out that although trade policies would not change overnight, there will be room for improvement in the future.

“As we continue to build exchanges of ideas, commerce, trade around the issue of biodiesel…this source of tension can get resolved,” he said.

Obama will use the meeting to further strengthen ties with Brazil, which along with Chile and Argentina represents a more moderate leftist alternative to Hugo Chavez in the region, combining policies of social justice and liberal trade with overtures toward the U.S. Lula is expected to help in reestablishing full diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Venezuela and Bolivia, and is leading the call for an end to the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.

U.S.-Latin America policy hit a low point late last year when allegations of U.S. involvement in opposition riots and protests against President Evo Morales led to the expulsion of U.S. ambassadors to Bolivia and Venezuela, and the Bush Administration quickly reciprocated. During a televised interview in January, Obama called Hugo Chavez an “obstacle to progress in the region,” and accused the country of “exporting terrorist activities,” prompting harsh criticism from the Venezuelan president.

Similarly, relations with Ecuador, a strong ally of Venezuela, have been tense since President Rafael Correa announced his decision to close the U.S. military base at Manta, the principal staging location for counternarcotics and security operations in neighboring Colombia, and the expulsion of two U.S. diplomats following a dispute over security assistance.

Still, some foreign policy analysts are optimistic. During a recent Web chat question forum, Director of the Latin American Initiative at the Brookings Institute Mauricio Cardenas predicted that Obama would come to the meeting “in a listening mode,” instead of trying to “divide the hemisphere into friends and enemies.”

“Most likely President Obama will say that the U.S. will be friends with governments that are at the left of the ideological spectrum provided that they are elected democratically and respect the rule of law,” Cardenas said.

A shift in U.S. policy is already evident from the recent announcements on Cuba, acknowledgment of U.S. responsibility in Mexico’s drug war, the administration’s neutrality during the recent elections in El Salvador, and the order to close down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. These decisions have increased Obama’s popularity in the region and will give him considerable clout at the summit.

Although Obama will not want to focus heavily on U.S.-Mexico security issues, including recent border violence, counternarcotics policy for the region as a whole will be a very important issue. Also on the agenda will be immigration, the environment, social development, and poverty, particularly in Central America, where unemployment as a result of the economic downturn is high.

Last but not least is the question of Cuba.

With cries growing in the region for the U.S. to normalize relations with the country and shifting sentiment among young people in the U.S., the White House announced on Monday that it is lifting the longstanding restrictions on family travel and remittances to Cuba. The reversal of Bush era policies fulfills an Obama campaign promise and has been met with high approval from members of Congress.

While the timing of this announcement is partially intended to divert the focus of the Summit away from Cuba, it is likely that leaders in Trinidad and Tobago will continue to call on the U.S. for greater action, including allowing Cuba’s admission into the Organization of American States and putting an end to the 47-year trade embargo.

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