Joe Biden met his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in San Francisco on Friday to talk about immigration, before completing a major economic summit of countries around the Pacific Rim in San Francisco.
The American president assured that he could not have a “better partner” than Mexico in the face of the challenges of the moment.
” Not easy “
Joe Biden thanked his counterpart for helping him “meet the challenge” of the migration crisis on the border of the two countries, acknowledging: “I know it’s not easy.”
He also discussed the work of the two countries, whose economies are very closely linked, on industrial production chains, and against the trafficking of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate causing tens of thousands of overdoses each year in the UNITED STATES.
The Mexican president described the relationship between the two countries as “excellent” and praised his host, an “extraordinary president” and a man “of convictions”.
The interview is organized the day after a meeting between “AMLO” and Chinese President Xi Jinping, demonstrating the intense competition between the United States and China right at the gates of America.
China
Beijing has invested heavily in many emerging countries, including Latin America, as part of an infrastructure financing program called “The New Silk Roads”.
Joe Biden wants to offer the countries concerned an attractive American alternative, for example by concluding various and varied agreements within APEC, which brings together around twenty countries accounting together for 60% of the world economy.
Concluding the summit, which will take place next year in Peru, he said that “America’s commitment to the Asia-Pacific region was unwavering and, from our perspective, essential. »
With Mexico, the American president has another priority: responding to the arrivals of migrants in large numbers at the border between the two countries, more than 3,000 kilometers long.
According to a White House press release, Joe Biden and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador notably decided to “work together to respond to the actions of Nicaragua and private entities to encourage illegal immigration for profit.”
The United States is also seeking ways to take criminal action against these activities.
The Democrat is seeking a second term, and faces repeated attacks from his political opponents against his migration policy, but also growing discontent from local Democratic officials.
Joe Biden assures that he wants to act with “humanity”, while taking, in fact, decisions which clearly restrict access to American territory.
Wall
The Mexican leader had recently described as a “step backwards” the resumption of work to build a wall on the border, a project dear to former US President Donald Trump and which Joe Biden says he is legally obliged to continue.
On Friday, “AMLO”, more conciliatory, thanked his counterpart for having put in place legal immigration channels.
He also said he was “fully aware of the devastation” caused by fentanyl in the United States.
According to the White House, Biden and “AMLO” spoke in particular of strengthening police and judicial cooperation to fight “trafficking in human beings, drugs and weapons.” »
Fentanyl, made from products very often coming from China, is another subject that is poisoning the re-election campaign of the 80-year-old Democrat.
Trade
Joe Biden had also obtained from Xi Jinping a commitment to fight further against this trafficking, during a summit on Wednesday between the two presidents, which made it possible to renew a dialogue that had been pending for a year.
The two superpowers promised Friday to continue their high-level discussions on a particularly contentious subject: trade.
Washington, which accuses Beijing of unfair maneuvers, and which invokes national security, is piling up commercial and technological measures against China.
To the great dismay of the Asian giant, whose economic engine is failing.