On Tuesday, President Joe Biden will meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for talks that the White House says will highlight the underlying strength of a relationship that has recently been highlighted for the leaders’ disagreements on issues such as energy and Ukraine policy.
López Obrador declined Biden’s invitation to the Summit of the Americas last month in Los Angeles after unsuccessfully urging the US to include the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela — all of which have anti-democratic regimes. The Mexican president has also called US support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia a “crass error,” and he has chastised the US for moving faster to provide military aid to Ukraine than financial aid to Central America.
There are also political undercurrents in Washington, where top Republicans have pointed to an increase in the number of people crossing the southern U.S. border illegally from Mexico and Central America and have chastised the Democratic administration for not doing more to stop the migration.
It will be Biden’s second meeting with López Obrador at the White House. Furthermore, they communicated virtually during the coronavirus pandemic last year and held several phone calls. During the White House’s Cinco de Mayo celebration this spring, Jill Biden hosted Mexican First Lady Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller.
The talks on Tuesday take place just days before Biden departs for Israel, the West Bank, and Saudi Arabia.
According to senior Biden administration officials, the US-Mexico relationship is a top priority, and the countries plan to announce joint actions to modernize and improve infrastructure along key sections of the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) border, strengthen law enforcement cooperation against fentanyl smuggling, and promote clean energy.
They also intend to announce the formation of a working group to promote more avenues for legal worker migration, discussions that officials hope will eventually include labor from other countries.
