North American summit returns
Plenty of differences remain among US, Canada, Mexico
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden launched into three-way diplomacy with the leaders of Canada and Mexico on Thursday, celebrating the return of near-annual summits that went dormant during the Trump years. But there were still plenty of differences to sort through over trade, immigration and other matters.
Biden met first with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling their two countries’ relationship one of the easiest in the early going of his presidency.
But as Biden and Trudeau sat down for talks, the president also confirmed that the two leaders had to discuss their differences over proposed electric vehicle tax incentives in his massive social services and climate bill that are causing concern in Ottawa.
“We’re going to talk about that,” Biden said. “It hasn’t even passed yet in the House.”
Biden later met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and the three leaders were then meeting together. Trudeau and Lopez Obrador also met separately with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Donald Trump had an icy relationship with Lopez Obrador’s predecessor, pressing Enrique Pena Nieto to never publicly say that Mexico wouldn’t pay for a southern U.S. border wall.
But Lopez Obrador appeared to reach a one-issue understanding with Trump: Mexico slowed the flow of Central American migrants trying to reach the U.S. border, and Trump often appeared to turn a blind eye to just about every other facet in the complicated relationship.
Lopez Obrador offered warm words for Biden when they appeared before the cameras at the start of their meeting Thursday.
The Mexican president drove home that Biden is treating his government with respect, something he noted has not always been a given in the two countries’ long history.
“From the first time we talked over the phone with the president already in office, he mentioned that we would not be seen as the backyard of the United States, and we are thankful for that” Lopez Obrador said of Biden.
Canada, meanwhile, is concerned about a provision in Biden’s spending plan that would offer American consumers a $7,500 tax credit if they buy electric vehicles through 2026. The following year, only purchases of electric vehicles made in the U.S. would qualify for the credit. The base credit would go up by $4,500 if the vehicle was made at a U.S. plant that
operates under a union-negotiated collective bargaining agreement.
The union provision has sparked pushback from some non-union shops and lawmakers.
As Biden, Trudeau and Lopez Obrador resume the tradition of the North America Leaders’ Summit, the three allies also face deep differences on migration and climate issues.
There’s “not that much in common between them, at least in their vision for what they want for their countries,” said Kenneth Frankel, president of the Canadian Council for the Americas.
Thursday’s meetings at the White House mark the
first trilateral get-together for North American leaders since a June 2016 gathering of Trudeau, Nieto and President Barack Obama in Ottawa. The gatherings took a hiatus under Trump, who feuded with Trudeau and Nieto.
Biden has made some progress in repairing relations with U.S. neighbors, but many significant strains remain — and some new ones have emerged.
Mexico’s priorities heading into the summit were to obtain concrete advances on immigration and more equitable access to COVID19 vaccines.
The U.S. and Canada, meanwhile, have expressed frustration that Lopez Obrador has failed to get on board with global efforts to curb climate emissions. The Mexican president skipped this month’s U.N. climate summit in Scotland.
Lopez Obrador’s government, for its part, wants promised U.S. development funds for the Northern Triangle countries of Central America to be firmed up. The Mexican leader continues to press the U.S. to fund an expansion of his tree-planting program to Central America.
Mexico has worked with the United States — under Trump and Biden — to control migrant flows and assist in returning migrants to Central America. The two countries are still negotiating the court-ordered reimplementation of a Trump-era policy known as Remain in Mexico, which forced asylum seekers to wait out their U.S. asylum process in Mexico.
Lopez Obrador has also mentioned on multiple occasions his interest in the U.S. government expanding its temporary work visa program so more Mexicans and Central Americans can fill the demand for labor in the U.S. The temporary workers in turn could have access to the higher pay they seek in the U.S. without becoming part of the illegal immigration flow.
Trudeau and Biden are also expected to discuss the future of an oil pipeline that crosses part of the Great Lakes and is the subject of rising tension over whether it should be shut down. Biden is caught in a battle over Enbridge’s Line 5, a part of the pipeline network that carries Canadian oil across the U.S. Midwest.