López Obrador proposes economic integration of “the entire American continent” to Biden | Athalayar

López Obrador had 60 minutes to convince Biden. The presidents of Mexico and the United States spoke for an hour in an armored black Cadillac that carries the resident of the White House. The world’s most secure vehicle, a wheeled bunker capable of withstanding even heavy weapons attacks, does not contain the arguments of the Mexican leader popularly known as AMLO. He tried to convince his interlocutor of the importance of integrating the economies of all the countries of the American continent into a single system. They went to Mexico City.

“It’s not enough to integrate North America,” Mr. The Mexican president said he told Biden. AMLO is committed to adding more Latin American states to the inner club of Canada, Mexico and the United States. An ambitious proposal It coincides with his country’s celebration of the tenth summit of North American leaders known as the Three Amigos Summit.A regional forum established in 2005 with the aim of strengthening relations.

The leaders of the three countries met in Mexico on Tuesday to discuss trilateral and bilateral issues. Issues such as immigration, economic cooperation and regional security will be on the agenda, closely related to the criminal activities of drug traffickers. Biden, López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will pick up where they left off when they last met in Washington in November 2021.

Work has piled up under Trump, who has decided to build a wall — literally and figuratively — with his neighbors, but the problems remain. The environment has changed: Trilateral trade, including economic ties between the United States and Mexico, is growing. According to the US Census Bureau, they are expected to increase by nearly 20% by 2022. In addition, tensions between Washington and Beijing have prompted the American company to relocate its factories to Mexican soil.

On Sunday, Biden landed at the newly opened Felipe Angeles International Airport, built on the outskirts of the Mexico City megacity. He became the first US president to visit the neighboring country in nearly a decade. The last to do so was Barack Obama in 2014, who attended a meeting with two other US heads of state. It will be the Democrat’s first visit to Latin America since taking the White House.

Departure to Mexico City. In the next few days, I will meet @POTUS Biden, President @LopezObrador_, and business leaders to strengthen our economy, create good jobs, and build a better future for people across North America. More to come – stay tuned.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 9, 2023

Bolsonaro’s attack on the seats of Brazil’s three branches of government – Congress, the Presidency and the Supreme Court – has sparked a strong reaction from the international community, which has aligned itself with current President Lula da Silva. Latin American leaders, led by AMLO, condemned the frontline attack on democratic institutions Promoted by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, now holed up in a rented mansion in Orlando (Florida). Both Biden and Trudeau, who were in Mexico, condemned the incident.

Migration and Security: Prioritizing Trade Security

The three-day summit promises to be intense. New border security measures by the Biden administration give officials the ability to turn immigrants away without allowing them to seek asylum. The accompanying agreement is also included in the package Mexico accepts a hot influx of tens of thousands of Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans and Haitians who cross the US border without permission..

AMLO, one of the leading representatives of the Latin American left, has become a decisive ally of the United States on this issue. Throughout 2022, the Mexican government detained 388,611 migrants from Central America and elsewhere, more than double the number in 2019.. Figures recorded by Border Patrol agents have confronted more than 1.5 million migrants trying to cross the wall.

A day before landing in Mexico, Biden traveled to El Paso. He walked near the border fence and entered a migrant support center for the first time since taking office in January 2021. He was criticized by all political sectors and human rights groups who condemned the continuation of Trump’s policies. Republican Texas Governor George Abbott accused him of being too lax.

Biden’s visit to Mexico comes days after the arrest of Ovidio Guzman, the son of Chapo Guzman, one of the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, known as El Radon, whose arrest sparked chaos in the drug-run city of Culiacán. Chappo’s second wife’s son was involved in smuggling fentanyl into the US, a corrosive opioid causing an epidemic in this country. For now, Mexico will not extradite him to its northern neighbor.

A single dilemma weighs on bilateral relations between Washington and Mexico: energy. López Obrador has recently adopted a series of protectionist energy policies that have angered his partners. In fact, the United States and Canada filed a formal complaint that these policies violate the Free Trade Agreement, setting up a process that could lead to sanctions against Mexico. The summit will help iron out differences.

US Coordinator: Jose Antonio Sierra