Next November, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will see the face of United States President Joe Biden again and will also meet again with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. They will meet in Mexico to assess free trade between the three.
The trading relationship between the three North American nations already existed before any of the three heads of state reached the top. First in the figure of the North American Free Trade Agreement and later as a new trade agreement which we call here T-MEC.
Pacts that cannot forget that they were there when they arrived, that they have clear operating rules and that they must continue to operate after the departure of López Obrador, Biden and Trudeau.
The three countries have developed a relationship of trade dependence between them. The three presidents have an obligation to facilitate, not hinder, this 28-year-old regulated trilateral trade meeting within the framework of free trade.
When that November date arrives, if the meeting that López Obrador has only so far announced is truly confirmed, we will see pictures with three affable leaders who will surely project at least the desire for a cordial summit.
What will happen to the work teams of the three countries behind the scenes of the images of cordiality will remain to be seen in these four months that are missing from such a meeting.
Beyond the usual differences that a volume of trade like that of North America can bring, the reality is that the two partners of Mexico are unhappy with the non-respect of the T-MEC parity rules by the López Obrador government. , particularly in terms of energy .
From the start, López Obrador receives his counterparts from the United States and Canada with the news that Mexico is dissociating itself from daylight saving time, which is used by these two northern countries, due to an obvious personal whim. . It hurts trade relationships, supply chains, financial relationships, tourism, everything.
Today, Mexico, the United States and Canada should plan two major changes imposed for geopolitical reasons.
On the one hand, the increasingly difficult relationship with China gives Mexico the opportunity to become a manufacturing center closer to the points of consumption and thus to capture the big companies of the East.
On the other hand, the three should reflect on how to coordinate the use of clean energy to combat climate change and, in doing so, free up exportable energy resources to Europe, which faces a serious problem with Russia.
But no, the dogmatic policies of López Obrador on energy issues close the door to both opportunities and, on the contrary, open a battle front for the respect of the rights of American and Canadian energy companies.
Ultimately, López Obrador and Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden are the administrators of their countries’ institutions and, incidentally, of this trilateral institution that is the trilateral trade agreement.
None of the three has the right to claim to be the inventor of hot water, regardless of the transformations he imagines.
ecampos@eleconomista.mx
Televisa news anchor
The great Depression
Degree in Communication Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, with a specialty in Finance from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico and a Masters in Journalism from Anahuac University.
His professional career has been devoted to different media. He is currently a columnist for the newspaper El Economista and a news presenter on Televisa. He is the owner of the 2pm news space on Foro TV.
He is a specialist in economic and financial issues with more than 25 years of experience as a commentator and presenter on radio and television. He has been part of companies such as Radio Programas de México, where he participated in the VIP commercial radio. He was also part of Radio Formula’s management and talent team.
