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WASHINGTON — President Biden hosted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at the White House on Thursday. Increased immigration at the US-Mexico border.
But despite agreeing to form a working group on regional supply chain issues, including critical minerals, and reaching an agreement to share vaccines, the leaders seemed intent on passing on diplomatic tact to tackle tougher issues such as trade disputes or rising immigration numbers.
“We can overcome any challenge if we take the time to talk to each other,” Mr Biden said in a meeting with both leaders on Thursday evening.
NS top return After a five-year hiatus, he pointed to a growing appetite among North American leaders to show a sense of strategic and economic solidarity, with increased competition from Asia and Europe. The meeting also comes at a critical moment. United States of Americacollaborated with the disruption of global supply chains and the mass movement of people in the Americas. Mexican and Canada more vital than ever.
“This is one of the easiest relationships we’ve had,” Mr Biden said in a meeting with Mr Trudeau, covering up Canada’s complaints that the president’s American purchasing policies for goods like electric vehicles are disrupting trade between the two countries.
In his first face-to-face meeting with Mr. López Obrador since becoming president, Mr. Biden said through an interpreter that he saw the United States and Mexico as equals. Mexican President praised Mr. Biden’s The plan to grant citizenship to the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States is a proposal that has gained little momentum in Congress.
Throughout the day, each leader refused to answer journalists’ questions about American policies returning refugees to Mexico. Mr Biden’s advisers said the group will discuss humane ways to address the root causes pushing people north and confront the flow of fentanyl and other drugs towards the US-Mexico border. But they also said the group would not discuss policies that have become flashpoints for immigration activists, including a program that forces some asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases are pending.
When asked how the immigration issue could be discussed without mentioning these programs, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the pending lawsuits prevented open discussion of the policy known as Stay in Mexico. ”
The day before the summit, more than 70 human rights and immigration advocacy organizations pressured Mr. Biden and his colleagues to discuss “brutal, ineffective and illegal” immigration policies.
No agreement was reached over the ongoing disagreements over how each country handles its trade commitments. Since Mr. Biden took office, the details of the Trump-era revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement, called the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, have been controversial. The agreement aimed to update Mexico’s labor laws, encourage more automobile production in North America, and open Canadian markets for American dairy farmers.
In recent weeks, the Canadian government has argued that the tax credit offered to American consumers who purchase American-made electric vehicles violates the agreement. Speaking to reporters at a news conference on Monday, Mr Trudeau said the Biden administration’s ethos of American purchasing was “reverse effect” to promote trade between the two countries.
“We don’t look at him that way,” Ms Psaki told reporters on Thursday. “In our view, the electric vehicle tax credit is an opportunity to help consumers in this country.”
The Biden administration, for its part Accused Canadian government of practices supporting domestic dairy farmers and have increase anxiety That Mexico’s energy policies give state-owned companies an unfair advantage. American officials said Wednesday that Mr. Biden plans to reaffirm USMCA provisions that support the protection of workers’ rights. A dispute against Mexico is resolved earlier this year.
One official said leaders had reached an agreement on vaccine sharing, with Canada and Mexico agreeing to share “millions” of doses with poorer countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
According to Mr. Biden, more sensitive discussions were certain to come with the Mexican president, who was harsh on the United States and pursued policies contrary to American interests. While Mr. López Obrador praised President Donald J. Trump for his non-interference in Mexican affairs, he has taken a more openly confrontational stance towards American policies since Mr. Biden took office.
Long oppressed in its relations with its neighbors, Mexico has gained a significant advantage in a year that has seen a wave of pandemic-induced immigration from Latin America. For the Biden administration, the importance of maintaining strong Mexican sanctions became clear in September when thousands of Haitians crossed the border and marched into Texas.
“The balance of power between the Mexican government and the US government has shifted due to circumstances,” said Duncan Wood, vice president of strategy at the Wilson Center. “They know they can harm the Biden administration, and they know the Biden administration knows that,” said Mexican officials, Mr Wood.
Just this week, Mr. López Obrador deflected the American embargo on Cuba as “despicable” and attacked the Biden administration for helping fund Mexican media groups he describes as “opposition broadcasts”. (The president has previously said that American funding for Mexican civil society is meant to “promote a coup mentality.”)
Vice President Kamala Harris met with Mr. López Obrador during his summer trip to Mexico and has since been seen as an internal guardian of that relationship. In her meeting with Mr. López Obrador on Thursday, Ms. Harris spoke about their shared interest in history, as well as “our shared concerns about migration and what we will do as partners specifically to address the root causes of migration”. migration.”
Mr. López Obrador, for his part, took a moment during the meeting with Mr. Biden and Mr. Trudeau to warn of increased competition from China and the risks of a battered global supply chain.
“The best, most appropriate thing is to strengthen our economies, strengthen our trade operations across North America and the entire continent,” he said. “It’s a paradox that so much money circulates in North America and Pacific ports are overflowing with goods from Asia.”
Mr López Obrador also said immigration represents “huge potential” to support each country’s workforces, reminding Mr Biden of his commitment to finding a way to offer a pathway to citizenship for the previously undocumented.
“No president in the history of the United States has expressed such a clear and unequivocal determination to improve the situation of immigrants,” Mr. López Obrador said through an interpreter. “I hope you get the support of Congress and members of both the Democratic and Republican parties.”
Katie Rogers of Washington and Natalie Kitroeff of Mexico City reported. Ana Swanson, Eileen Sullivan and Zolan Kanno-Youngs Contributed to reports from Washington.
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