Summit of the “Three Amigos” | Trudeau as champion of free trade, Biden as protectionist

(Washington) While Justin Trudeau has delivered a plea for free trade to lawmakers in the US Congress, in Washington, Joe Biden, for his part, touted his protectionist measures in a Detroit factory on Wednesday. Two messages at the antipodes launched on the eve of a summit of the “Three Amigos” where common ground could be difficult to find.

Melanie Marquis
Press

On his first day of a trip to Washington, DC on Wednesday, the Prime Minister of Canada met with Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, and then the Leader Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The message he sent them is clear: Canada opposes protectionist measures.

In Canada as in Mexico, we fear the repercussions of certain projects of Joe Biden’s “Buy American” plan, in particular this tax credit of up to $ 12,500 for the purchase of zero-emission vehicles “made in the USA”.

Thus, to these legislators, Justin Trudeau “will stress the importance of bilateral cooperation as the two countries seek to recover from the pandemic, improve their infrastructure and secure supply chains while avoiding protectionist policies. His office said.

The Canadian Prime Minister is visiting the American capital to participate in the “Three Amigos” summit, which is being held on Thursday.

United States President Joe Biden is hosting this first trilateral meeting in more than five years. Justin Trudeau will meet him face-to-face on Thursday, and he will also have a bilateral meeting with the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

In front of an audience of students gathered at the Woodrow Wilson Center on Wednesday, we got a glimpse of the message he came to convey.

“We are a little worried”

During this question-and-answer session that lasted about an hour, he discussed a myriad of topics, from the rise of China to indigenous issues to free trade, and he took the opportunity to slip a word about the famous tax credit that the Biden administration cares about.

“We are a little concerned about the incentive for zero emission vehicles that is contained in the proposal under consideration in Congress at the moment, which could have real negative consequences on the Auto Pact. [entre le Canada et les États-Unis] “, He blurted out.

“This is part of the conversations we will have a little later today to make sure people understand,” continued Prime Minister Trudeau, highlighting the great integration of the auto industries of Canada, the United States and Mexico. .

“Buy North American”

The sentiment is shared by the Mexican government.

Mexico’s Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier denounced the isolationism that reigns under the Biden administration, calling the approach “incomprehensible” in an interview with Codigo Magenta on Tuesday, whose comments were reported by Reuters agency.

“Instead of pushing a ‘Buy American’ agenda, the United States should bank on a ‘Buy North American’ agenda [Achetez en Amérique du Nord] Why ? Because we are a region. And President Lopez Obrador said it to [Joe] Biden, he told Kamala [Harris] She continued.

In the Canadian business community, we are also starting to raise red flags.

“Given the close supply chain links between Canada, the United States and Mexico, we need to work on a common North American local purchasing plan,” pleaded Véronique Proulx, of Manufacturiers et Exportateurs du Quebec, by press release.

“China is catching up with us”

But the signal sent by Joe Biden on the eve of this trilateral summit is not very encouraging for the Canadian-Mexican common front: the president went to Detroit, in the key state of Michigan, to make the tour of a General Motors zero-emission vehicle assembly plant.

“During most of the 21^e century, we have led the world by a significant margin because we have invested in our people, in ourselves. But at some point, something went wrong: we stopped. We risk losing our advantage as a nation. China and the rest of the world are catching up with us, ”he said in the city of the automobile.

“Well, we’re about to turn the tide, and in a spectacular way,” he exclaimed, promising to make Detroit the world’s hub for clean autos. “We will make sure that the jobs of the future are here in Michigan. Not on the other side of the world, ”promised the Democratic president.

China in the wringer

Prime Minister Trudeau also scratched China on Wednesday, calling it a poor partner when answering a question about critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, essential to the manufacture of products related to renewable energies and clean technologies (batteries, solar panels, wind turbines), and of which Canada is rich.

“There are 13 of these minerals […] which Canada has, and which the United States does not have as much, and which we are happy to provide in a reliable manner, ”he said.

“We can’t compete with some countries for production costs, which are lower because they don’t care about environmental standards and the labor standards are not the same. It will be more expensive to extract and transform them in Canada than in other countries, ”added Justin Trudeau.

But he says the tide is starting to turn, as the supply turbulence during the pandemic has made some realize that “it’s probably worth more to be able to rely on reliable sources, best friends like Canada and the United Kingdom. ‘Australia’.

If he didn’t specifically name China then, he did when he returned to the charge a little later when a young man told him about the rise of the Middle Empire. There he criticized Xi Jinping’s regime for arbitrarily imprisoning Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor for almost three years.

President Joe Biden had a virtual interview Monday with Xi Jinping.

He welcomes his counterparts in the north and south for the “Trois Amigos” summit on Thursday.

Also on this trip are Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino, as well as Minister of International Trade, Mary Ng.