United States resumed Talks with Mexico after 4-Years Pause

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On Thursday, the United States and Mexico restarted high-level economic talks after a 4-year pause. Top advisers to President Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed eagerness to make headway on issues important to both nations such as infrastructure, trade, and migration. Biden launched the talks in 2013 when he was vice president under Barack Obama. But the talks were halted under President Donald Trump whose hard-line immigration policies complicated the United States’ relationship with its top trade partner. On Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris opened the meeting with brief remarks in which she sought to emphasize the Biden administration’s desire for warmer relations. She referred to the Mexican delegation as “our friends, our partners”.

Harris also stressed the importance of improving relations in a moment when dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and cyber threats are high priorities for both nations. She visited Mexico City in June for talks with López Obrador and said, “We are very excited about this next stage of the relationship and partnership between the United States and Mexico. Mexico is our closest neighbor and a strategic partner and one of our most important economic relationships. Mexico’s economic stability is in the interest of the United States”. López Obrador said before the meeting that his advisers would press the Biden administration to offer temporary works visas to Central Americans.

It is a move the Mexican government says could help slow the flow of migrants illegally attempting to travel to the United States and help alleviate an American labor shortage. The US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, USAID Administrator Samantha Power, and the US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar represented the United States. Mexico’s delegation included Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Economy Tatiana Clouthier, Ambassador to the US Esteban Moctezuma, Under Secretary of Finance Gabriel Yorio, Under Secretary of Foreign Trade Luz Maria de la Mora, Chief Officer for North America Roberto Velasco, and Director General for International Treaties’ Monitoring, Administration and Compliance Oversight Lydia Antonio.