North American leaders will meet early this week to give new impetus to strengthening economic ties, even as a dispute over Mexico's energy policies persists that has distracted cooperation on other issues such as immigration.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will host his US counterpart, Joe Biden, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Mexico City from Monday to Wednesday for the first summit between the three since the end of 2021.
"A meeting like this is for us to continue advancing in economic integration," Lopez Obrador said this week.
A combative leftist, López Obrador, says his policy is a matter of national sovereignty, arguing that previous governments skewed the energy market to favor private interests.
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Washington and Ottawa believe their actions violate the trade agreement between the three countries, known as USMCA, and have initiated dispute resolution proceedings against Mexico, souring the mood for cooperation on jobs and investment.
Trudeau told Reuters on Friday he would argue that resolving the energy dispute would help attract more foreign investment to Mexico and was confident of making progress.
Others believe that the time for negotiation is over.
Aindriu Colgan, director of fiscal and trade policy at the American Petroleum Institute, whose members include ExxonMobil XOM. N and Chevron CVX.N, said it was time to call a dispute panel because "Mexico is flagrantly violating USMCA."
Ahead of the summit, officials have publicly emphasized North America's shared economic interests, while privately moderating prospects for a breakthrough over the energy dispute.
"They will do everything possible to make it look like a happy meeting," said Andres Rozental, a former Mexican deputy foreign minister. "As long as Lopez Obrador keeps migrants out of the border area, Biden will be happy."
FENTANYL AND IMMIGRATION
Since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains, political leaders have stepped up calls for companies to move business out of Asia to make the region's economy more resilient.
As part of that push, Lopez Obrador, who in June rejected Biden's invitation to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in protest of his exclusion from the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, wants to discuss his plan to boost solar power in northern Mexico and secure financial support from the United States.
Biden's advisers say they expect a positive tone at the meeting after the announcement of a new migration plan this week and the capture in Mexico of a prominent cartel boss, the son of jailed kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Ovidio Guzman is a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal organization blamed for helping drive a spike in fatal overdoses of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, in the United States.
The U.S. government said stopping the flow of fentanyl would be an important part of talks about fighting drug cartels. Supply chains, climate change and immigration will also be discussed.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said any tension over Lopez Obrador's June snub had dissipated and the two presidents were in a better position to work together.
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Mexico's government has repeatedly urged the United States to commit funds to Central America and southern Mexico to help boost development and halt the journey of migrants north from areas that have long been some of the poorest on the continent.
He has also called on Washington to make it easier for immigrants to get jobs in the United States. A Mexican official said Thursday's agreement, which expands border expulsions, would do so because of the "quid pro quo" it contained to facilitate the entry of migrants by air.
Recently, Mexico's government upset the United States with a plan to ban imports of genetically modified corn, though it later clarified it would delay it until 2025. Lopez Obrador, however, said the issue would be addressed during the summit.
Credit: Reuters
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