Skip to content 
It is known as the Three Amigos Summit and is of enormous importance to the strength and integration of North America. At the beginning of 2023, the United States-Canada-Mexico group received a decided boost from the three leaders, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Presidents Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The three met in Mexico City to discuss issues related to migration, the economy, and regional politics. Before the meetings began, there were signs that promised an adequate climate for discussions, although some signs of tension emerged due to the complexity of trilateral relations. On the one hand, the Mexican president declared verbatim that the time had come to “put an end to that oblivion and disdain towards Latin America.” President Biden’s visit to Mexico occurs 10 years after President Obama’s last visit when he briefly visited the country. However, both Trudeau and Biden, in a sign of good neighborliness, accepted the request made by the Mexican president to land at the recently opened and controversial Felipe Ángeles airport (AIFA). Everything was settling in for the success of the important international summit.
Beyond the careful diplomatic forms, the issues to be discussed are notoriously complex. President Biden did not hesitate to point out the relevance of the security issue for the region. He pointed out emphatically: “If we are safer, we will work better together.” The thorny issue of drug trafficking was also present as Biden recalled, fentanyl trafficking has claimed more than 100,000 lives in the United States. Without mentioning it, the recent arrest in Sinaloa of Arcibaldo Guzmán, the son of the Mexican drug trafficker el Chapo Guzmán extradited and subject to prison in the United States, was present. In a constructive manner, the US president spoke of expanding supply chains, to be more competitive, and of the need to control irregular immigration. For Biden, the issues may be the same, but what is relevant is that the focus, priorities, and internal policy messages between partners are different. In the Mexico-United States bilateral meeting, the Mexican president emphasized speaking not only about the North American region, but also insisted on the importance of generating a program that promotes development in Latin America that curbs migration to the north. The relationship between the two countries must be deepened, Biden said, probably taking up what was proposed by the Mexican president, emphasizing that it was also needed with the Western Hemisphere.
President López Obrador received the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, at the AIFA, who will participate in the X Summit of North American Leaders. López Obrador went ahead to mention that Canada has shown generosity with Mexico by granting temporary work visas for Mexicans, but also stressed that relations between the two countries are “more than good” and that Canadian companies invest in Mexico without obstacles.
At night, the Mexican president offered a dinner to the two leaders, Biden and Trudeau, in which the ties of friendship and cooperation between the three countries were reaffirmed. The results of the Summit will be an incentive for the companies of the three countries to continue working together to strengthen their economies, which will strengthen other equally important developments in the social and cultural aspects.
