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Agence France-Presse

US President Joe Biden and the leaders of Canada and Mexico played up their close ties in the first North American regional summit since 2016, but tensions on trade and immigration lurked in the background.
This was the first so-called “Three Amigos” summit since Biden predecessor Donald Trump’s 2017 arrival in the White House.
Following the game plan he has used with European and Asian allies, Biden is keen to restore normalcy to the three-way partnership among the nations that form the USMCA free trade bloc, and the leaders committed afterward to hold a follow-on summit next year in Mexico.
“We can meet all the challenges if we just take the time to speak with one another, by working together,” Biden said on Thursday, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau noted the three countries’ “extremely strong ties”.
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Earlier, in a one-on-one meeting with Trudeau, Biden said US-Canada ties are “one of the easiest relationships that we have”.
And Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in a separate bilateral meeting, hailed Biden’s approach, saying “our relations must always be based on respect”.
Lopez Obrador said he was grateful that Mexico is no longer “seen as the backyard of the United States”.
In addition to feuding publicly with Trudeau, Trump threatened to abandon the free trade agreement and imposed tariffs on Canadian aluminium and steel.
He also declared a national emergency on the Mexican border and used incendiary language about illegal immigrants, although he ultimately forged a working partnership with Lopez Obrador.
But just because the tempestuous Trump presidency is over, that does not mean the issues he stirred have gone away.


In an echo of Trump’s “America first” ideology, Biden is trying to reinvigorate the struggling US industrial base, especially in the rapidly emerging clean energy and electric vehicles market, which is causing friction with the neighbours.
Mexico and Canada are alarmed at Biden’s proposal for a tax credit encouraging US production of electric vehicles, like the powerful all-electric Hummer the president test-drove during a visit to a General Motors plant Wednesday in Detroit.
Another sticking point is Biden’s “Buy American” policy for the federal government when it shops for its huge fleet of automobiles – something Canada says is undisguised protectionism.
And to the south, Mexico is still under pressure to help resolve the politically explosive immigration mess on the US southern border.
Joe Biden says US considering diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics
The leaders also committed to banning imports of goods made with forced labour, a policy Biden’s administration has been aiming at China. Activists and Western politicians accuse China of using forced labour in its northwestern Xinjiang province, an allegation Beijing denies.
Sounding the alarm about Beijing, Lopez Obrador said during the three-way meeting that greater North American economic integration, including “stopping the rejection of migrants” needed for the US and Canadian labour force, would be the best way to face “the productive and commercial expansion of China”.

Lopez Obrador’s prescription appeared to echo Mexican Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier’s call for the United States to “buy North American” instead of adopting protectionist measures.
The Mexican president warned that North American countries could be headed for an “unacceptable imbalance” of economic power with China that “would keep alive the temptation of trying to resolve this disparity by use of force”.
Key quotes from Xi Jinping and Joe Biden’s virtual summit
The Biden administration has taken a tough rhetorical line with Beijing on a range of issues, though a virtual summit between Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping earlier this week sought to lower the temperature. Canada has also had rocky relations with China.
Despite lingering disputes, the trio reaffirmed the strength of the regional relationship.
“Together as North America we stand strong, and look to better build back our communities, our infrastructure, and our shared future as integrated partners,” Biden, Lopez Obrador and Trudeau said in a joint statement.
“We will continue our dialogue at the highest level next year in Mexico for NALS 2022.”
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Diplomacy

‘Three Amigos’ at White House for first US-Mexico-Canada summit in five years

President Joe Biden with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House. Photo: AP

U.S. President Joe Biden gestures after driving a Hummer EV during a tour at the General Motors 'Factory ZERO' electric vehicle assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

From Meng Wanzhou and detentions to USMCA and the Arctic: 5 rules to unfreeze Canada-China ties

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, whose arrest has strained relations between Canada and China. Photo: AP

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Vaughan, Ontario, on Dec. 15, 2017. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Cole Burston.

The Canadian embassy in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY CLEMENT SABOURIN "CANADA-ENVIRONMENT-ARCTIC-WARMING" In this September 27, 2015 photo, an aerial view of the CCGS Amundsen, a Canadian reasearch ice-breaker navigating near an ice floe along Devon Island, in the canadian High Arctic. Every year the Amundsen spends 4-5 months in the Canadian Arctic supporting Canadian research programs and collaborations with industry and international partners.CCGS Amundsen is navigating waters that should be frozen over this time of year. Warming has forced a retreat of the polar ice cap, opening up a sea route through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for several months of the year. AFP PHOTO / CLEMENT SABOURIN / AFP PHOTO / Clement Sabourin

(190111) -- BEIJING, Jan. 11, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses the third plenary session of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 11, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

Goodbye Nafta, hello USMCA: Canada and US reach last-minute deal to save trade pact with Mexico

The United States and Canada have reached a deal to salvage Nafta as a trilateral pact with Mexico. File photo: AFP

epa07060741 (FILE) - US President Donald J. Trump (L) and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) shake hands during the Welcome Ceremony at the G7 summit in Charlevoix, Canada, 08 June 2018 (reissued 01 October 2018. Canada and the United States on 30 September struck a trade deal to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). EPA-EFE/NEIL HALL / POOL

FILE PHOTO: Dairy cows are seen on a farm in Saint-Valerien-de-Milton, southeast of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, August 30, 2018. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi/File Photo

Joe Biden hits 79. Is he a two-term president?

US President Joe Biden. Photo: AFP

epa09571624 US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks about the President's recently-passed transportation bill in the White House Press Briefing Room in Washington, DC, USA, 08 November 2021. Congressional lawmakers have yet to vote on the president's 1.75 trillion US dollars social spending and climate package. EPA-EFE/JIM LO SCALZO

U.S. President Joe Biden waves to Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they begin a virtual meeting from the White House in Washington, U.S. November 15, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

TOPSHOT - US President Joe Biden (L) and US Vice President Kamala Harris arrive during a signing ceremony for H.R. 3684, the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on November 15, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP)

US President Joe Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term, if he runs again. Photo: Reuters

US-China relations: key quotes from Xi Jinping and Joe Biden’s virtual summit

Statements released by both sides after the meeting described it as a candid exchange. Photo: Reuters

(211116) -- BEIJING, Nov. 16, 2021 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with U.S. President Joe Biden via video link, in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 16, 2021. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

epa09584532 US President Joe Biden speaks during a virtual summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC, USA, 15 November 2021. EPA-EFE/SARAH SILBIGER / POOL

News

World

United States & Canada


Joe Biden seeks common ground with Mexico and Canada at summit, but some tensions remain
Three leaders also discussed competing better with an increasingly assertive China



The leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico held their first in-person meeting since President Joe Biden’s election


Mexico

Canada

Joe Biden

Justin Trudeau

‘Three Amigos’ at White House for first US-Mexico-Canada summit in five years

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Joe Biden seeks common ground with Mexico and Canada at summit, but some tensions remain Three leaders also discussed competing better with an increasingly assertive China

Joe Biden seeks common ground with Mexico and Canada at summit, but some tensions remain

Three leaders also discussed competing better with an increasingly assertive China