Diplomacy: North America summit ends on a conciliatory note after discord

diplomacy
North America summit ends forgiving after discord

US President Joe Biden (l) with his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (M) and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. photo

© Andrew Harnik/AP/dpa

The increase in illegal border crossings is putting Joe Biden under domestic pressure. The US President is dependent on the cooperation of his Mexican counterpart – who is sending mixed signals.

After initial discord, US President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador demonstrated unity at the North America Summit in Mexico. At the end of the trilateral meeting with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, López Obrador praised the Biden government’s migration policy.

“You are the first US president in a long time who hasn’t built a single meter of wall,” he said last night (local time) in Mexico City. At a bilateral meeting with Biden on Monday, the Mexican President struck unusually undiplomatic tones towards his guest.

Building the wall was Trump’s priority

At the end of Biden’s two-day visit, López Obrador said at his address: “We thank you for the respect for the Mexicans who live in the USA and do an honest job. You will not be harassed or have to endure raids like in the past .”

Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump had taken a particularly tough course in migration policy and relied primarily on isolation. Building a wall on the border with Mexico was one of his presidency’s priorities.

López Obrador had maintained a close relationship with Trump and supported him with his own soldiers at the Mexican border in intercepting migrants long before they arrived in the United States. The Mexican President, on the other hand, had not warmed to Biden so far. Last year he publicly alienated him when, like other counterparts, he boycotted a summit with which the Biden government wanted to improve relations with Latin America.

López Obrador also showed a clear distance at the bilateral meeting with Biden on Monday: He called for an end to “the neglect and contempt for Latin America” ​​and called for the countries of the region to be respected and their differences and sovereignty respected.

Biden: “The entire hemisphere is experiencing unprecedented migration”

After further consultations with Biden and Trudeau, López Obrador then made an effort to be conciliatory. Biden needs the cooperation of his Mexican counterpart to make a difference in the fight against illegal migration. Biden is under great political pressure in the United States because of a record number of illegal border crossings – and most migrants enter the country via the 3,200-kilometer border with Mexico.

“Our entire hemisphere is experiencing unprecedented migration, greater than at any time in history,” Biden said in Mexico City. He called for more cooperation on the issue and thanked Mexico for the recent agreement to take in more migrants rejected by the US.

Biden had already presented the plans shortly before his Mexico visit: According to this, the USA wants to send 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela who have entered the USA illegally back to Mexico every month. In return, up to 30,000 people from these countries are to be given the opportunity to enter the country legally every month – but only if they meet strict requirements. López Obrador indicated during Biden’s visit that he might be willing to expand on this. However, the summit did not result in any further concrete agreements of this kind.

Trudeau: “We are and will always be stronger together”

The three partner countries vowed to cooperate in various areas, such as fighting drug smuggling, expanding renewable energies and strengthening their supply chains. López Obrador announced a joint commission of representatives from the three countries to discuss better economic integration and strengthening supply chains. “We are and always will be stronger together,” Trudeau said.

The North America Summit is a trilateral format of the three member states of the USMCA Free Trade Agreement. Biden had invited to such a summit in the White House at the end of 2021. It was the first meeting of this kind since 2016 – there were no summits of this format during Trump’s tenure. The next tripartite meeting is to take place in Canada. After meeting Trudeau on the sidelines of the summit, Biden also announced plans to travel to Canada on a bilateral visit as early as March.

dpa

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