President López Obrador out-maneuvered his U.S. and Canadian counterparts, trading the promise of cooperation for keeping biotech and energy off the agenda.

HOUSTON, TX, UNITED STATES, January 20, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The 10TH North American Leaders Summit, held in Mexico City during January 9-10 was important for what was said and agreed upon as well as for the topics that were taken off the table for discussion, according to Houston energy analyst George Baker in a new report.

The three heads of state agreed to discuss the immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border and decided on ameliorative measures. They embraced aspirational goals concerning illicit drug and human trafficking, climate change, and import substitution. Their closing remarks embodied unanimity of purpose.

There would be no scheduled discussion of the commercial disputes regarding Mexico’s laws and policies regarding biotech and energy, and no warnings about the convening of arbitration panels or sanctions.

Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO, scored on the field of public relations when American and Canadian security officials agreed to his travel demands: The aircraft of the delegations would not land at the downtown airport, and would instead be rerouted to a distant airport that that he had ordered built at the site of a military airstrip. The hour’s travel back to the capital was along a route vulnerable to security breaches.

There was no substantive benefit but considerable cost and risk to this choice of airport. Still, the landing there by two heads of state showcased the airport’s commercial viability. The two presidents rode back to Mexico City in President Joe Biden’s hardened limousine, accompanied by an interpreter.

Following the closing ceremony on January 10, Mr. Biden boarded his plane at the downtown airport. He did not go home empty-handed. He had been given AMLO’s assurances of Mexico’s cooperation regarding the management of migrants and the capture of drug cartel leaders, two important talking points for the Democratic candidate in the 2024 presidential elections.

As for the 2024 presidential elections in Mexico, the candidate of the MORENA party will have a talking point in being able to claim that American and Canadian silence at the 2023 summit about Mexico’s biotech and energy policies meant consent.

“The concerns of corn growers, grain and fuel exporters, and energy investors have not yet been addressed, and the outlook for the billions of dollars of sunk costs and future revenue is in doubt,” says Baker, the lead author of the report.

"Mexico needs exporters and investors to provide additional energy for better lives and economic development: more calories on the dinner table, kWh-hours in the home and workplace, and BTUs of fossil fuel in the tank," Baker believes.

George Baker
Mexico Energy Intelligence
+1 832-434-3928
email us here
Visit us on social media:
Twitter