Before the meeting between the President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador With Joe Biden, the businessmen who would accompany him to the negotiating table with the private initiative of the United States exchanged messages that foreshadowed the soulless encounter.

“Team, good morning. Since yesterday, there has been concern about the rumor of the USTR consultations (TMEC)”, launched one of the businessmen.

“We will wait how the consultations come. And from there we react. I think the most important thing is to try to team up with the Economy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to try to avoid the panel, we have 70 days. In case it turns out the way we think,” another noted.

Another said that Vice President Kamala Harris had told President López Obrador that the senior US government official would declare that this is a sensitive issue that would have a 75-day limit to resolve consultations on other issues. any special groups.

“You have to have a conciliatory position. It seems to me that it is enough to notify what the process is and the many steps that are missing. It is a long process whose outcome is not yet predictable. We must reaffirm our belief in the benefits of TMEC and regional integration, which is why we encourage dialogue between the parties to achieve the commitments and objectives of the agreement,” said another of the businessmen. .

CCE President Francisco Cervantes, close to the government, said this is precisely the position that has been prepared since before the tour. “As a private sector, the idea is to stay within the institutional framework of the Treaty,” he said.

However, another of the businessmen pointed out that accompanying the government will be difficult. “To combine the dilemma between convincing the (US) government and softening its positions, as well as convincing its counterpart that, despite everything, it does indeed have opportunities.”

The context of the conflicts was threefold:

1) The approved reforms of the Electricity Law in 2021 with its overwhelming approval by the Court.
2) The accumulated decisions of regulators with very obvious results, and
3) The multiple lawsuits in progress.

Another of the businessmen asked the representative of the Mexican businessmen of the CCE: “Only the IP with your coordination will be able to combine the dilemmas to build precedents and criteria that avoid the panel (of controversies)”.

Mexican businessmen knew in advance of the disagreements between companies and the United States government over the energy sector, but they preferred to remain silent in the face of what was imminent: the call to review the TMEC due to policy changes in the energy sector.

When President López Obrador assured that the position of the United States to review the agreements of the TMEC and submitting government decisions to possible dispute resolution commissions, businessmen were surprised when the executive blamed them: “It mostly comes from Mexico more than Americans or Canadians about our policy energy,” he said.

The positions of the Mexican government towards the businessmen are a sign that the AMLO-IP relationship continues to lose steam.

@MarioMal