For the first time in five years, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, and the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, will meet again. The leaders will go to Washington on November 18 to celebrate the ninth Summit of North American Leaders, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard reported this Wednesday. Migration, the difficulty of access to vaccines during the pandemic and the problems in the supply chains in the North American region will be the priority topics in this trilateral meeting.
The Mexican diplomat has reported that the pandemic would be a priority issue at this summit: the health crisis due to the coronavirus and the health security of North America, difficult access to vaccines, unequal access to medicines. They will also address how to strengthen supply chains in the region. “Address the difficulties that have not ended in the pandemic, we are seeing difficulties in supplies, how to address them in 2022,” he said at the usual Executive conference at the National Palace this Wednesday.
The summit will take place amidst controversy between Mexico and the United States over the energy reform initiative that prioritizes the state company, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to the detriment of private capital, including the United States. Last week in a letter about 40 Republican legislators demanded stronger measures from Biden to protect US companies based in Mexico that would be affected by this new regulation. Republican lawmakers warn that the initiative of the Mexican Executive will affect US investment, its workers and the sustainability commitments included in the new free trade agreement
Ebrard has detailed that López Obrador and Biden will have a one-hour bilateral meeting and then an equal meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada will be considered. President López Obrador has shown good harmony with Biden since the Democrat’s arrival at the White House in January 2021. However, he has not been without controversy. In 2023 Mexico will host the 10th North American Leaders Summit.
In June 2016, at the last summit, the then presidents of the United States, Barack Obama, and Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, as well as Trudeau, professed their desire to increase their integration. At that time, US President Barack Obama, in what was his last North American summit, was comfortable with the label of “populism” of some politicians. And although he did not name Donald Trump, his darts were clearly aimed at the then Republican candidate.
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