Breathe
By Sofía Pacheco Niño de Rivera
With one month to go before the end of the year and a few months to go before the start of the election campaigns, Mexico and the United States have one of the most complex and extensive agendas at the international level. Inescapable issues such as the migration crisis from Latin America to our northern neighbor and the commercialization of fentanyl by drug traffickers caused President Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel López Obrador to meet this Friday to measure the pulse of the binational relationship within the framework of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.
The meeting lacked concrete commitments as is usually the case in this type of express meetings. While both are priority issues that require attention, they deserve even more of a roadmap that outlines solutions and joint actions by the U.S. and Mexican governments.
The migration issue gained more focus as Biden reiterated it not only with his Mexican counterpart, but also with Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia. Petro, aligned with AMLO and aware that the shared challenge of migratory flows must be addressed in a coordinated manner, proposed to divert migrants heading to the Darien jungle to Venezuela, on the condition that Biden agrees to mitigate the sanctions imposed on the government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela for having the record of illegal crossings in the United States.
Outside of that triangulation through Petro, Biden and AMLO reiterated words of esteem, as evidenced by Lopez Obrador's deference to Biden in telling him that he has been the only president in U.S. history to open a legal avenue for migration and a great trading partner. Beyond that, nothing. Just the photo.
Indirectly, the Mexican President's meeting with Xi Jinping, President of China, had more substance. Firstly, because China understood that this year APEC would serve as a conclave for Heads of State and invited officials to discuss Sustainability, Climate and Energy Transitions. Therefore, the perfect marriage between APEC topics and the bilateral Mexico-China turning point was the offer to help Guerrero with 250,000 pieces of furniture and household items to be delivered to the victims of Hurricane Otis.
In addition, they delineated axes to intervene in the Sonora Plan, which provides the opportunity for China or any Asian country to allocate resources for the renewable energy corridor that we are supposedly projecting on the border with the United States. Operations were also proposed to capitalize on investment opportunities in the Inter-Oceanic Corridor.
This is what I mean by concrete commitments. Migration and fentanyl are familiar and undoubtedly relevant, but where was the nearshoring, what was the commitment in terms of sustainability that was reached and that we need so much...? Everything was conspicuous by its absence. If only there were less gossip, chit-chat and protocol in these peer-to-peer sessions, and more substance.
Mexico must open alternative lines of negotiation with the United States. The Mexican government has negotiating cards that allow it to act with firmness and dignity in the face of U.S. requests and demands. Playing them intelligently will reduce the attraction of striking Mexico and will allow our country to show itself as a serious and strong interlocutor that truly defends and pursues national interests.
In any case, the Summit and the bilateral meetings served on this occasion to Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena and the entire Mexican delegation to diversify the economic and trade agenda with Asian countries, and at the same time for the United States to perceive this so that they can raise the importance of the talks with Mexico and redefine the meeting point with the Mexicans, more as allies than as "culprits" of the evils that beset them.
*Sofía Pacheco Niño de Rivera has a degree in International Relations. She graduated from the Universidad Iberoamericana and has specialized in international law and foreign trade. She has worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the General Directorate for the United Nations and served as Director of International Affairs and Standardization at the Ministry of Economy, participating in the negotiation of multiple trade agreements of Mexico, mainly the TMEC. During her time in government, she also served as a Member of Parliament in the Mexico City Congress, coordinating the Gender Equity Commission. She currently serves as Secretary of International Affairs in the PRI's National Network and Executive Secretary of COPPPAL Juvenil. She participates as an international analyst in the media and is an associate of PJ COMEXI.
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