DAVOS,Switzerland Mexico will work to offset any drop in exports to the United States due to a U.S. economic slowdown by stepping up trade with Europe and other regions, Mexican President Vicente Fox said on Friday. "If the U.S. economy slows down, it will reduce growth in Mexico," Fox told a news conference at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, pointing to Mexico's close trade links with its giant northern neighbor. "But we are not going to stay at our desk and waiting to see what happens. That's why we are here in Europe, that is why we are active and we think we can replace -- if not all -- part of that decrease (with) our trading with Europe," he said. In an interview with the ****International Herald Tribune**** published on Friday, Fox said the U.S. slowdown could bring Mexico's growth this year down to four percent from the official forecast of 4.5 percent. But he told Reuters that Mexico was sticking to its 4.5 percent projection for 2001 for now. "We have to wait and see finally what is the rate of growth of the U.S. economy ... We are still with our budget -- 4.5 percent growth, a 0.5 percent (of GDP budgetary) deficit and inflation of 6.5 percent. If conditions change, we might change our forecasts but today we hold to that," he said. At the news conference, Fox estimated that a U.S. slowdown could cut Mexican exports to the United States by three to five percent, but said this would not cause excessive problems when set against the average growth of 15 percent in Mexican exports. Mexico would try to make up for any loss by doing more trade with the rest of Latin America, Europe and Asia, he said. (Reuter)