Mexico, Canada and the US end their summit with renewed cooperation and several agreements

The meeting of the Three Amigos, as the Summit of North American Leaders is informally known, ended this Tuesday with the reconciliation of Mexico, the United States and Canada after the tensions caused by the tumultuous presidency of Donald Trump (2017-2021) and the distancing forced by the pandemic.

For two days, the US president, Joe Biden; Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; and the host, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, staged the return to normality in trilateral relations with repeated hugs, appeals to the historic friendship of the three countries.

“We are working together to address this challenge in a way that upholds our nation’s laws and protects the human rights of migrants facing desperate circumstances. We are also working together to tackle human smuggling and drug trafficking,” Biden assured in statements to the press from the Patio de Honor of the presidential residence.

Mexico will open a new immigration center in the south of its territory to welcome refugees from the continent, which will be supported by the governments of the United States and Canada, as agreed by the leaders of the three countries. During his closing speech, López Obrador announced another important initiative.

“We have agreed to strengthen our economic, commercial and exchange relations and for this we are going to create a joint committee to plan and substitute imports in North America, so that we try to be increasingly self-sufficient,” declared the Mexican president.

Trudeau, the most sparing in words, stressed the economic power of the region whose economy, he said, exceeds that of the European Union

“In short, together we are and always will be stronger,” he said.

If the tune and the smiles prevailed, it was largely because the leaders agreed to focus on their areas of cooperation such as the fight against trafficking, especially fentanyl; the efforts to create “orderly” migration mechanisms and the commitment to turn the region into a center of the commercial supply chain to reduce dependence on other partners, in reference to China.

Silence on the arrest of the son of “El Chapo”

Despite being asked about the arrest last Thursday of Ovidio Guzmán, one of the most wanted sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán by the United States, López Obrador avoided answering directly and mentioned some of his measures to address organized crime.

Among them, he mentioned the opportunities offered to young people to prevent them from being recruited by criminal groups, as well as the absence of corruption in its Executive and impunity.

“At the meeting we have reached agreements to continue working together to achieve peace in the three countries and guarantee the security of our peoples. And that is what I can answer,” he concluded.

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