Unifying vision for Americas proves challenging for Biden
LOS ANGELES — President Joe Biden tried to present a unifying vision for the Western Hemisphere on Thursday even as the Summit of the Americas has been wracked by divisions and absences that make it hard to bring North and South America together around shared goals on migration, the economy and climate.
The disparities in wealth, governance and national interests mean it is challenging for Biden to duplicate the partnerships he has assembled in Asia and Europe. That has created limited expectations at a summit the United States is hosting for the first time since 1994.
With diplomatic efforts strained by summit boycotts and legislative proposals stranded in a polarized Congress, Biden focused on trying to get corporations and the private sector behind his efforts. His administration hopes the financial ties will help to bridge regional differences while fostering economic growth and greater equality.
“My challenge to all of you is if you step up and play a bigger role in driving inclusive, sustainable, equitable growth in the 21st century, a lot’s going to happen,” Biden said in an address to CEOs. “None of us will be able to fully realize our ambition for the region on our own.”
Before Biden took the stage, the backdrop was an animation that showed fragments of colors flying together to neatly form a map of North and South America. Yet in reality the process has hardly been as synchronized, particularly with the notable summit boycott by Mexico’s president and uncertainty as to whether the right incentives exist for Latin America
to draw more closely to the U.S.
“It’s always been difficult to find consensus in Latin America,” said Ryan Berg, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. “This is a hugely diverse region, and it’s obviously difficult for it to speak with one voice.”
On a busy day of diplomacy, Biden met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and was scheduled to hold talks with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
There was the potential for tension surrounding Biden’s first meeting with Bolsonaro, an ally of former President Donald Trump. Bolsonaro is running for a second term and has been casting doubt on the credibility of his country’s elections, which has alarmed officials in Washington.
When Bolsonaro accepted an invitation to the summit, he asked that Biden not confront him over his election attacks, according to three of the Brazilian leader’s Cabinet ministers who requested anonymity to discuss the issue.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, rejected the idea that Biden had agreed to any conditions for the meeting with Bolsonaro.
“I do anticipate that the president will discuss open, free, fair and transparent democratic elections,” Sullivan told reporters.
The nature of democracy itself became a sticking point when planning the guest list for the event.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wanted the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to be invited, but the U.S. resisted because it considers them authoritarians. Ultimately Lopez Obrador decided not to attend. Neither did the presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Relations with Latin America have proved tricky for the administration even as it solidifies ties in Europe and in Asia, where China’s rising influence has rattled some countries in the region.
One challenge is the unmistakable power imbalance in the hemisphere.
World Bank data shows that the U.S. economy is more than 14 times the size of Brazil, the next-largest economy at the summit. The sanctions the U.S. and its allies levied against Russia are much harder on Brazil, which imports fertilizer from Russia. Trade data indicates the region has deepening ties with China, which has also made investments there.