Differences endure as Biden revives summit

WASHINGTON — North America’s leaders are reviving threeway summitry after a Trumpera break.

As President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador resumed the tradition of the North America Leaders’ Summit on Thursday, the three allies face deep differences on migration, climate and trade.

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. “Not just what they want for their countries, but what they can deliver for their countries.”

Thursday’s meetings at the White House were the first trilateral get-together for North American leaders since a June 2016 gathering of Trudeau, Barack Obama and Enrique Peña Nieto in Ottawa. The gatherings took a hiatus under President Donald Trump, who feuded with Trudeau and Nieto during his tenure.

Biden has made some progress in repairing relations with U.S. neighbors after the turbulent Trump years. But many significant strains remain — and some new ones have emerged.

Trudeau arrived in Washington with concerns about buy-American provisions in the president’s proposed $1.85 trillion social services plan. Mexico’s priorities heading into the summit were to obtain concrete advances on immigration and more equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The tradition of three-way meetings started when George W. Bush played host to Mexico’s Vicente Fox and Canada’s Paul Martin in 2005 for talks at his ranch in Waco, Texas.

Biden has already held separate virtual meetings with Trudeau in February and López Obrador in March.

Biden met separately with Trudeau and López Obrador again Thursday before the leaders held a trilateral session in the midst of what is a big week for the U.S. president. Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law Monday, held a virtual summit with China’s Xi Jinping that night, and traveled over the next two days to promote provisions in the big spending deal. He’s also trying to push through his social services and climate spending plan.

There are growing concerns in Canada about a provision in the spending plan that would offer U.S. 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.