The White House rules out sharing vaccines against covid-19 with Mexico and other countries

A worker packs a box of Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in a cooler to send it to vaccination centers in Kentucky, United States today.Timothy D. Easley / AP

The relationship between the United States and Mexico is not just a matter of bilateral diplomacy, but affects the entire American continent.

Joe Biden and López Obrador hold their first meeting this Monday - convened virtually for 3.30 p.m. local time, 4.30 p.m. in Washington - with an agenda that covers urgent issues such as the distribution of covid-19 vaccines and challenges that always They have determined part of the balances of the region, from migration to security or commercial cooperation.

The López Obrador government took up the protest weeks ago against an unequal distribution of vaccines.

That is today its main foreign policy flag.

However, the United States ruled out before the start of the meeting that the United States is considering, at least at this stage, sharing the doses with its neighbor or other countries.

Fighting the spread of the coronavirus is probably the most pressing issue in two countries that share more than 3,200 kilometers of border.

"It is in the national security interest of both nations to work closely together to combat the covid-19 pandemic," said a statement from the White House released this morning.

"We care, especially about the vaccine," emphasized López Obrador in his morning press conference.

Spokeswoman Jen Psaki made clear, however, that Biden's priority is making vaccines accessible to Americans first.

"Once that goal is met, we will be happy to discuss further steps," he said.

However, the US president and his Mexican counterpart are preparing to inaugurate a new stage after a few years marked by pragmatism under the mandate of Donald Trump.

The two leaders, a senior official from the Biden Administration explained in a teleconference with journalists on Sunday, also plan to talk about cooperation on migration and joint efforts to promote development in southern Mexico and in the northern triangle of Mexico. Central America.

After harshly criticizing the neighboring country during his campaign and promising that he would make Mexicans pay for the construction of the wall he promised to build on the border, Donald Trump ended up finding in López Obrador, who took office in December 2018, a decisive and unexpected ally in his crusade against immigration.

A series of heavy-handed politics, with the erection of a wall on the border as the star, that President Biden has been trying to dismantle since he arrived at the White House on January 20.

Biden pursues a massive regularization of undocumented immigrants, and intends to prioritize action over the root causes, economic and security, that lead people to emigrate.

López Obrador will propose to his counterpart a pact to regularize temporary workers in the United States.

It is an agreement that aims to benefit between 600,000 and 800,000 Mexican and Central American migrants in the coming years.

"The United States and Mexico share a vision that recognizes the dignity of migrants, as well as orderly, safe, and regular migration, and a shared commitment to addressing the root causes of irregular migration," adds the White House.

In that turn to immigration policy, Biden could use López Obrador's cooperation very well.

But, unlike other world leaders eager to return to the usual relationship, the Mexican did not hide at the time he was in tune with Trump (who also praised him during his tenure) and was also one of the last world leaders to congratulate Biden on his victory.

During the telephone meeting with journalists, the top official of the Biden Administration wanted to highlight on Sunday the president's ties with Mexico, a country to which he traveled four times as vice president, and where he had the opportunity to meet López Obrador when he was a candidate in 2012.

“President Biden is respectful of our sovereignty.

It was President Trump and so is President Biden.

We spoke about two months ago, the first time we spoke on the phone, we had already met but eight years before ... And I was very pleased because he mentioned that they do not see Mexico as the backyard of the United States.

So, I thanked him for having that conception, because Mexico is a free, independent and sovereign country, ”said López Obrador.

With these premises, the president will try to channel a relationship more in accordance with the principles that, at least on paper, characterize his political project.

Frictions in economy and safety

Commercial and economic relations and security policies are also on the table of the meeting, which is held when the Mexican Senate is about to approve a controversial energy reform that in practice supposes a brake on private initiative in favor of a company state, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).

This measure, criticized by the United States Chamber of Commerce, also poses a breach, according to several experts, of the T-MEC, the free trade agreement between the two countries and Canada that came into force less than a year ago.

However, López Obrador wanted to make it clear that the conversation with Biden will not change his plans despite the economic impact of the reform.

"The president of the United States is respectful of sovereignty," stressed the Mexican president.

The claim of sovereignty is probably his main purpose in the meeting, which has also been reflected in security issues.

At the end of last year, after the arrest in California of former Secretary of Defense Salvador Cienfuegos, in the midst of the transition of power in the United States, Mexico adopted a measure that tightened the regulation of foreign agents in its territory, a challenge to the DEA that not liked in Washington.

Biden had no plans to ask Mexico for specific actions in this area, according to the same senior official in his Administration, who explained that "Biden has a holistic perspective on the fight against drug trafficking."

However, the

Cienfuegos case

showed that López Obrador is unlikely to admit interference.

General Cienfuegos, accused of drug trafficking, was extradited from the United States after intense diplomatic efforts, although he was finally exonerated by the Prosecutor's Office.

The episode raised the temperature between the two countries, which in any case will now have to establish a joint strategy to fight drug trafficking.

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