President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged Tuesday to promote prosperity for people across the hemisphere by opening broad talks on the fragile security situation in Haiti, trade in North America, the political instability in Brazil and more on the fringes of the North American Leaders Summit.
Biden and Trudeau met one on one before a three-way meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at the Mexico City summit. The warmth of the US and Canadian leaders during a brief appearance before reporters at the start of their talks contrasted with a more brusque exchange a day earlier between Biden and López Obrador, who had complained of “abandonment” and “disdain” for Latin America. America.
Biden told Trudeau: “What we should be doing, and we are doing, is demonstrating the unlimited economic potential that we have when we work together in the hemisphere and to help the entire hemisphere.”
The three world leaders will discuss migration, trade and climate change as they seek to mend the tensions that have divided the continent.
The three-person gathering takes place most years, though there was a hiatus while Donald Trump was President of the United States. It is often called the “three amigos summit,” referring to the deep diplomatic and economic ties between the countries.
Yet leaders have found themselves at odds, especially as they struggle to manage the influx of immigrants and crack down on smugglers who profit by persuading people to make the perilous journey to the United States.
In addition, Canada and the US accuse López Obrador of violating a free trade agreement by favoring Mexico’s state-owned utility over power plants built by foreign and private investors. Meanwhile, Trudeau and López Obrador are concerned about Biden’s efforts to boost domestic manufacturing, raising concerns that the US’s neighbors could be left behind.
The key points of the summit revolve around better connections between the three nations and the shared goal of a stronger North America in energy and, in particular, semiconductors, the climate and the commitment to reduce methane emissions. , an agreement to manage the large waves of migrants arriving in the region, and a more cohesive regional strategy to deal with future health threats related to the pandemic.
The dynamic when the Biden-Trudeau talks opened could not have been more different than that of the Biden-López Obrador talks.
During that meeting, the Mexican leader challenged Biden to improve life throughout the region, telling him that “you have the key in your hand.”
“This is the moment for us to decide to put an end to this abandonment, this disdain and this forgetfulness of Latin America and the Caribbean,” López Obrador said.
Biden responded by pointing to the billions of dollars the United States spends on foreign aid around the world.
At the start of Tuesday’s Biden-Trudeau meeting, the leaders spoke familiarly and optimistically. Trudeau called the President of the United States “Joe” and Biden joked with Trudeau, after the Canadian leader made a statement to journalists in English and French, that he should have paid more attention in his French classes at university. .
The White House said in a statement that the leaders discussed the war in Ukraine and “the generational opportunity to strengthen supply chains for critical minerals, electric vehicles and semiconductors and unleash the full economic potential of our shared continent.” The US administration also announced that Biden will make his first visit to Canada as president in March.
“There are many reasons to be optimistic, especially for those of us in our countries,” Trudeau said. “But it’s going to take a lot of work, something that neither you nor I nor most of our citizens have been afraid of.”
Biden told his counterpart: “Together, I think we’re accomplishing some really significant things. You’ve always been there every time I’ve called.
Biden and López Obrador have not been on very good terms for the past two years. The Mexican leader made no secret of his admiration for Trump, skipping a Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles last year because Biden did not invite the authoritarian leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
However, there have been attempts to thaw. Biden made sure to fly into the new Felipe Ángeles International Airport, a cherished project of the Mexican president even though it has been the source of controversy.
The airport, which is expected to cost $4.1 billion when completed, is more than an hour’s drive north of the city center, has few flights and until recently lacked constant drinking water. Still, it is one of the key projects that López Obrador is rushing to finish before his term ends next year. The President of the United States is scheduled to depart from Mexico City International Airport on Tuesday night.
The United States and Mexico have also reached an agreement on a major change in immigration policy, which Biden announced last week.
Under the plan, the US will send 30,000 migrants a month from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela back across the border among those who entered the US illegally. Migrants arriving from those four countries are not easily returned to their countries of origin for a variety of reasons.
Additionally, 30,000 people per month from those four nations who get sponsors, background checks and an airline flight to the US will be able to work legally in the US for two years.
The number of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border has increased dramatically during Biden’s first two years in office. There were more than 2.38 million stops during the year ending September 30, the first time the number had exceeded 2 million.
Biden said he and Trudeau would discuss “how we can try to help stabilize Haiti.”
Canada is considering whether to lead an international mission to Haiti to help resolve the ongoing security and humanitarian crisis.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and the country’s Council of Ministers sent an urgent appeal on October 7 calling for “the immediate deployment of a specialized armed force, in sufficient numbers” to stop the crisis caused in part by the “criminal actions of the armed gangs”. But more than three months later, no country has stepped forward.
