Posted on January 10, 2023, 6:46 pmUpdated January 10, 2023, 6:53 pm
On paper, the “three friends” have everything to get along: a new free trade agreement signed three years ago to replace NAFTA, comparative advantages for each of them and a Covid crisis which has highlighted the need to strengthen ties with trusted partners. In view of the summit of North American leaders which met Canada, the United States and Mexico this Tuesday in Mexico, Joe Biden and his counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (“AMLO”), however, had to evacuate the themes of tension.
The Mexican president, who avoided the latest US invitation in June to protest the absence of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, first asked the US president to end US “contempt” for Latin America and the Caribbean. Above all, the two presidents had to tackle the issue of illegal immigration upstream, at historical levels.
Accused of laxity by Republicans for two years, Joe Biden has just announced a tightening of controls on illegal migrants, while Mexico City has agreed to take back up to 30,000 migrants every month from Latin American countries, difficult to deport from the United States . United States so far.
Trilateral Forum
This frees up the ground to discuss a new possible cooperation this Tuesday afternoon. The first mentioned by the White House will be the organization, from the beginning of the year, of a trilateral forum on semiconductors with industry.
Under the Chips Act, the US has more than $50 billion in subsidies to hand out to new chip factories to reduce its dependence on Asia. All the major players have already announced investments in the United States, from Samsung (in Texas) to Intel (Arizona and Ohio), via TSMC (in Arizona) and the American Micron (in Idaho and in New York State).
The three countries now want to “coordinate semiconductor supply chain mapping efforts to develop a collective understanding of unmet needs,” the White House says. Mexico would especially like to attract the many subcontractors that are coming in the footsteps of the great founders.
Reduce methane emissions
The “three friends” also say they want to cooperate better in mapping their resources of critical metals. They also promise to commit to reducing their methane emissions from waste and wastewater by at least 15% by 2030, compared to 2020 levels.
The United States, on the other hand, has defended a more ambitious project for itself (the Global Methane Pledge), which provides for a 30% reduction, all sources combined. On Tuesday morning, Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau also held a bilateral meeting to discuss Ukrainian and energy issues.
The two US partners are also closely monitoring the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, the US plan for subsidies for electric cars and the production of green energy. Canada and Mexico are in a better position than the Europeans: They are eligible for the $7,500 tax credit that went into effect earlier this year, which requires final assembly of vehicles in North America.
