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Christie Making Third Foreign Trade Trip In Past Year

By David Madden

TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) – It's another trip for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who, along with his wife and an official trade delegation, is in the middle of a three day visit to Great Britain.
This trip, like similar visits to Canada and Mexico, is meant on its surface to create better business and political links between the state and England, New Jersey's third largest trading partner.

"We're going to have the opportunity to further these goals by meeting with business leaders in the UK," says Christie, "to pursue opportunities for trade expansion and engagement, particularly in the life science industry there."

Most of the real work for the governor will come Monday and Tuesday in meeting with corporate and political leaders, including Prime Minister David Cameron, which will fuel the Christie Presidential talk.

The delegation will also take in a soccer match, a drama rehearsal and will meet with Rutgers students studying in London.

This is one of five out-of-state trips that Christie will make this month. Aside from England, he'll attend four political events, including stops in Iowa and New Hampshire, two early Presidential primary states. Christie's recent travels in and out of the country have raised concerns among some New Jersey residents. Should he decide to officially enter that race, Rider University Political Science Professor Ben Dworkin believes the opposition could turn up the heat.

"The Democrats in the state legislature are going to be highly incentivized by national Democrats to create some real pressure situations so that Christie needs to be in Trenton," Dworkin says, "needs to be in the room, putting heads together in order to solve it."

Or not -- and risk being perceived as someone ignoring problems at home to raise money and campaign on the road.

"These issues that we continue to have with the future of Atlantic City, with the credit downgrades, with an unfunded transportation infrastructure system, with an underfunded pension system," Dworkin says, "these are major issues that require the governor's attention."

Christie's popularity in poll numbers in New Jersey have gone down as his absences from the state have mounted.

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