Biden’s priorities

Migration, security and economy are the key issues for the nations of North America. Given recent events, for Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Joe Biden, the priorities are clear. And more, given the prevailing sovereignist criteria in both governments.

The energy policy of the Fourth Transformation sought to empower Petróleos Mexicanos and the Federal Electricity Commission, without considering the 10,000 million dollars of US foreign direct investment in the sector. The United States and Canada activated the dispute mechanisms provided for in the T-MEC to demand a reconsideration of the neighbor to the south.

After the pandemic, nearshoring would be the key to the economic recovery of the three North American countries. The US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, became one of the main promoters of the Interoceanic Corridor, which aims to become one of the biggest failures of the current federal administration. Still, Mexico can achieve better integration in the supply chains of electric vehicles, natural gas, medical devices, and semiconductors.

But everything depends on the full implementation of the trade agreement, which almost three decades after the signing of the FTA maintains the same assumptions for the Aztec nation: economic recovery will only be possible if there is respect for the rule of law and the high levels of unsafety.

The war against fentanyl is a strategy shared by the Biden and López Obrador administrations. The recent capture of Ovidio Guzmán López is inscribed in that narrative, although according to the most up-to-date information from the system for monitoring illicit plantations in Mexican territory, disclosed by UNODC, it reveals that the total poppy area registered an increase of 12 and 14% of the potential production of opium gum in the first two years of this six-year term.

For Mexico, reducing illegal arms trafficking was the priority, while the United States has insisted on ending addiction, given the more than 100,000 overdose deaths recorded in the United States, predominantly from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, in 2021.

Before moving to Mexico City, President Biden was in El Paso, Texas yesterday. In immigration matters, his priority is to anticipate actions to control the flow of asylum seekers who seek to enter through the border points of the Rio Grande, before the termination of the so-called Title 42.

Despite President Biden’s efforts to turn the tide on immigration, apprehensions at the US-Mexico border continue to rise from 1.7 million in fiscal year 2021 to more than 2 million in fiscal year 2022. Presidents Biden and López Obrador have committed to strengthening border security and addressing migration flows, including launching a bilateral task force on labor migration pathways and worker protection, and creating a task force to strengthen the cross-border response to child migration. In addition, Mexico has pledged to invest $1.5 billion in border infrastructure between 2022 and 2024. In exchange for Mexico accepting Venezuelan migrants who enter the United States illegally, the United States will offer an additional 65,000 H-2B visas and allow 24,000 migrants to enter the workforce in the United States.