The Three Amigos Summit will test how friendly North American leaders can be to each other

OTTAWA: North American leaders will try to improve friends at a trilateral summit in Washington next week.

Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau and Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico are neighbors, and they share some political traits: center or leftist, free traders (at least in theory), all say they believe in an integrated North American approach to common commerce. . problems.

But after a five-year gap in North American leaders’ summits, the friends might be a stretch.

That’s why real time, not FaceTime or Zoom, is on the agenda.

Trudeau has never met López Obrador in person, although Mexico’s populist president was elected more than three years ago. López Obrador did not formally assume office until after the signing of the renegotiated NAFTA in November 2018 with Trudeau and Donald Trump in the White House.

And although they have met virtually, this will be the first face-to-face meeting of Biden and López Obrador since Biden came to power 11 months ago, when a renewed wave of migrants on the southern border became one of the first major crises that had. to confront.

Indeed, Biden’s arrival in the White House, amid pandemic and political chaos in the midst of the US, has hardly turned out to be the respite for Canada on the bilateral or multilateral front that many might have hoped for.

The president of the United States was instrumental in securing the release of the “two Michaels,” Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, from detention in China. But new trade clashes have emerged over the “Buy America” ​​provisions in its $ 1 trillion infrastructure spending package to improve roads, bridges, public services and public transportation, and over preferential tax incentives in its budget package to stimulate the purchase of all-American buildings. union-built electric vehicles.

These are measures that concern both Canada and Mexico, especially the proposed $ 12,500 tax cut on so-called electric vehicles. For Biden, it will do a lot of heavy political work: it will stimulate demand for zero-emission cars and increase production of American electric vehicles, protect union jobs, and reduce American emissions in the transportation sector.

(Biden has avoided a blanket carbon price, but has set aggressive targets to decarbonize the American economy. He promised that the United States will achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and reduce greenhouse gases 50 to 52 percent below those. 2005 to 2030 levels. The Keystone pipeline expansion has died, is on the sidelines of a dispute between Michigan and Canada over the Line 5 pipeline, and has mandated that half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 in the US Are zero-emission vehicles).

A senior Canadian official said that the US protectionist plan on entirely US-made electric vehicles is very concerning.

Officials, including Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman, have been pushing hard in the US to persuade Democratic and Republican lawmakers that Michigan’s big three automakers are relying on the existing competitive advantage that relies on chain stores. supply back and forth across the Ontario border.

In the battle to change the United States’ stance on electric vehicles and how to count regional or national content in a vehicle, Canada has an ally in Mexico, says Mexican Ambassador Juan José Gómez Camacho, who believes that the movements of the United States they go against the renegotiated. NAPHTHA.

“On these, I can tell you that both Canada and Mexico have the same approach, that we are in constant communication on how to approach it,” Camacho told the Star in an interview on Friday.

“We need to work in the supply chains. We need to work on competitiveness as a region. We have the NAFTA framework, but we must also approach them from a justice perspective: how can we be inclusive or how can we make sure that growth is inclusive, that no one is left behind, “he said.

The ambassador said that Mexico also wants to talk about how to deal with the COVID-19 health crisis and migration, a big problem between the United States and Mexico, but Camacho says it also involves trilateral cooperation.

As for the “Buy America” ​​provisions on infrastructure spending, Ottawa hopes to persuade the US to see who really benefits from a freer market.

Canada has not made any threats, but one official noted that while Canadian bidders enjoy access to the US market worth hundreds of millions of dollars, it is US suppliers and service providers that benefit the most from market access. Canadians in absolute dollar terms.

In the case of Trudeau and Biden, the bilateral meeting that is scheduled for this week is important. Although they have met virtually and on the sidelines of this year’s G7 and G20 summits, and at the COP26 climate change conference, this will be their first in-person meeting since Biden took office.

Their relationship on a personal level is said to be sincere and friendly. But if the Trudeau administration thought it would be easier with a new Democratic administration in office, and to a certain extent it is (Biden has run for NATO, has not threatened to throw it away; he has re-signed with the international climate change plans). – is not without its challenges.

The Trudeau administration sees Biden as very focused on domestic issues. So success, one official said, would be to have a good meeting and advance the range of issues set out in the “roadmap” that the two countries released after the Trudeau-Biden Zoom meeting in February.

Camacho, like Canadians, said that is why meetings like this are important, to focus on building relationships between leaders and trying to promote common causes even where there are disagreements.

Disagreements, Camacho said, “when you have the size of the trade and investment that we have” are normal.

“This is not a matter of conflict. These are very important issues, of course they need to be addressed, absolutely… My point is that what is very important and very interesting, and very positive, is that they are coming to the table sharing a vision, sharing challenges, sharing approaches. So the question is how we can improve together as a region. “