The US-Mexico relationship – an easy trade-off in the Trump administration, with Mexico meddling migration and the United States does not press other issues – has become a series of disagreements over trade, foreign policy, energy and climate change.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will visit Washington on Tuesday to meet US President Joe Biden, a month after Lopez Obrador turned down Biden’s invitation to visit. Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles.
The Mexican leader asked Biden to invite the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela – all countries with anti-democratic regimes – and he also called US support for Ukraine “a terrible mistake”.
On that and other issues, it’s clear that Lopez Obrador is getting worse with Biden than he is with Donald Trump, who has threatened Mexico, but only wants one thing from the United States’ southern neighbor: stop migrants from to the border.
“I think the Biden administration has gone to great lengths to re-institutionalize the relationship and restore the relationship to not just focus on immigration and trade. And I think as a result, that leads to problems coming up AMLO By using the Spanish acronym Mexicans use to refer to the president, said Andrew Rudman, director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center.
U.S. officials want Lopez Obrador to withdraw because of his dependence on fossil fuels and campaign in favor of Mexico’s state-owned power company at the expense of foreign-built plants running on gas and renewable energy. create.
Washington has filed several complaints under the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, promoting Mexico enforce environmental laws and rules that guarantee union rights.
Lopez Obrador has also angrily rejected any US criticism of the journalist murder in Mexico or his own attempt to undermine checks and balances in the Mexican government. He is also angered by the US funding of civic and non-governmental groups in Mexico that he claims are part of the opposition.
All add up to a mix of witches in bilateral relationship.
“Ultimately, the problem is that you have a complete mismatch in the relationship,” said Arturo Sarukhan, who served as Mexico’s ambassador to the US from 2006 to 2013.
US “needs Mexico as an important partner on everything from ‘nearshore'” [manufacturing for the US market] … On competitiveness, on North American energy security, on energy independence, on energy efficiency,” said Sarukhan. “The point is you have a Mexican president who doesn’t care about any of this.”
What the President of Mexico cares about is inflation, which in June spiked to nearly 8%. Inflation and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic are driving increasing numbers of Mexicans to emigrate – 22 out of 53 immigrant who recently died after being abandoned by smugglers in a semi-trailer in Texas was Mexican.
“We must find a way to act together, to help each other in control inflation,” Lopez Obrador said Friday. “That is a topic I would suggest. We have a plan. “
Before departing for Washington on Monday, Lopez Obrador said he planned to talk to Biden about controlling inflation, immigration and security. He said a group of business leaders, including Carlos Slim, Mexico’s richest citizen, would accompany him.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday that the girls are looking forward to welcoming the Lopez-Obradors to the White House.
“They will discuss a broad and in-depth agenda, including joint efforts on migration, food security and Economic opportunityand so the president looks forward to having that conversation,” Jean-Pierre said.
She ignored questions about Lopez Obrador’s continued public criticism of the Biden administration, including the US effort to extradite the WikiLeaks founder. Julian Assange from the UK for prosecution.
“We consider AMLO, the president of Mexico, as a partner,” she said, adding that there will be more conversations. “And I’ll leave it at that.”
The question is what the Biden administration is willing to push Mexico About anything.
With Republicans like Governor of Texas Greg Abbot Constantly pointing to the issue of migration, Mexico holds enormous leverage. It has no obligation to accept anyone back at its border except Mexican citizens, but it has allowed the United States to continue deporting migrants of other nationalities under the law. Title 42 health regulations.
Lopez Obrador desperately wants the US to issue more work visas to Mexicans and Central Americans. While it remains a sensitive issue in domestic US politics, more visas could help tame covert border crossings.
Such a visa increase “seems to be a way out lack of labor we have in this country, and also relieve some of the pressure on Mexico and Central America,” Rudman said. “So it seems like something that Lopez Obrador is for, and the Biden administration might be inclined to suggest.”
Lopez Obrador rarely passes up an opportunity to irritate America. He recently said that the Statue of Liberty should be dismantled and returned to France if Assange jailed United States.
However, there are some signs that Mexico has managed to make up for the summit and other little things.
At the end of May, Mexico began cracking down on hundreds of meth and fentanyl labs that had sent steady amounts to the US. those drugswhich has caused the overdose deaths of tens of thousands of Americans.
Mexico seized meth labs from May 6 to June 72, and many of them appear to have been operating for years. And days before Lopez Obrador left for Washington, authorities raided two large warehouses in the northern city of Culiacan, finding half a ton and a half of fentanyl. fentanyl.
Rudman suspects the Mexican military has suddenly discovered a lot of working labs. “How come Mexico doesn’t know?” Rudman asked.
The question remains why Lopez Obrador gets along with Trump more than Biden. “I think you could argue that AMLO and Trump have run similar campaigns and won for the same reasons,” Rudman said.
Lopez Obrador’s program to encourage self-sufficiency in food, energy and other areas of Mexicans is a return to Trump-like nationalism. “It made Mexico great again,” Rudman said.
