López Obrador explains in Washington the investment of US companies: 40,000 million dollars until the end of the six-year term

A day after his meeting at the White House, Andrés Manuel López Obrador held a meeting on Wednesday with Mexican businessmen and a representation of the American chambers of commerce.

The balance of his appointment with Joe Biden did not have much news, in a meeting more focused on bringing positions closer together after the diplomatic friction caused by López Obrador's refusal to attend the Summit of the Americas, held last month in Los Angeles with Biden. as host.

Among the few concrete agreements announced on Tuesday were Mexico's commitments to invest in infrastructure on the border and to buy tons of food and fertilizer from its northern neighbor.

While on the part of the USA, the financing figures provided provided items already budgeted without representing any extra expense.

After the private meeting, held at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced on his social networks that "President López Obrador informs that the investments of United States companies in our country that will be made between this date and 2024 already add up to 40,000 million dollars”.

At the end of the meeting, Ebrard briefly addressed the press and stressed that the objective of the meeting had been "to follow up on the talks we have had on economic integration on strategic sectors, value and supply chains."

The economic and commercial agenda was one of the priorities of the meeting with Biden, since the more detailed negotiations on migration, another of the hot spots in the bilateral relationship, had already been advanced during the Los Angeles summit.

In fact, the commercial relationship once again conditioned the recipes to tackle the structural causes of migration, one of the objectives shared by both governments.

Under this logic, Mexico promised to invest 1,500 million dollars in infrastructure projects to modernize the border.

The money will be part of a joint fund with the US to "make the flow of trade and people safer and more efficient," according to the official White House announcement.

At the Mexican Cultural Institute we had a meeting with businessmen from Mexico and the United States.

We talk about economic cooperation, investment, sovereignty and progress with justice.

pic.twitter.com/sSy5OlLR0s

– Andrés Manuel (@lopezobrador_) July 13, 2022

Mexico has also committed to buying 20,000 tons of powdered milk from the US to "help families in rural communities," as well as another million tons of fertilizers for "farmers and small producers."

The US contribution will come, however, from a general item dedicated to infrastructure, of more than a trillion dollars, announced at the end of last year by Biden as part of his great bet to reactivate the economy after the pandemic.

Of that total, more than 3,000 million will go "to 26 large projects to renovate customs and border posts."

Among those attending the meeting with businessmen were heavyweights such as Carlos Slim Helú, the magnate of Grupo Carso;

Francisco Cervantes, president of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE);

or Antonio Del Valle, president of the Mexican Business Council.

On behalf of the Mexican political delegation, López Obrador was accompanied, in addition to Ebrard, by the senior staff of his economic cabinet: the Secretary of Energy, Rocío Nahle;

the Secretary of Economy, Tatiana Clouthier;

the secretary of Agriculture, Víctor Villalobos or the director of Pemex, Octavio Romero.

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