Mexico did not discuss energy dispute at North American summit
2023.01.12 13:38
Mexico did not discuss energy dispute at North American summit
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – According to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s statement on Thursday, the ongoing dispute over Mexico’s energy policies was not discussed by the leaders of North America at a summit this week in Mexico City.
Under a regional trade agreement, Washington and Ottawa launched dispute settlement proceedings in July against Mexico’s effort to give priority to its state-run energy companies. They claim that the policy discriminates against private U.S. and Canadian businesses.
Lopez Obrador stated at a news conference, “We did not discuss that,” noting that the USMCA trade agreement provided for its own dispute resolution mechanism.
On Tuesday, Lopez Obrador went to Mexico City for a trilateral summit with Presidents Joe Biden of the United States and Justin Trudeau of Canada. He also met with Biden one-on-one on Monday and Trudeau one-on-one on Wednesday.
Trudeau did bring up Canada’s concerns about Mexico’s energy policies, which prompted Lopez Obrador to say that he would meet with Canadian businesses with issues they wanted fixed.
The Mexican president said he would meet with a Canadian company about an electricity issue involving so-called self-supply permits, which his government wants to end.
He stated that there were also “one or two” mining-related businesses without naming any of them. He stated that he could meet with the company regarding the electricity complaint as early as next week.
Last year, Lopez Obrador met with American businesses to discuss their energy-related issues.
However, it did not stop the U.S. Trade Representative from submitting its request for negotiations on dispute settlement, to which Canada immediately agreed. The United States took the action, according to officials and industry sources, because it was dissatisfied with purely ad hoc energy settlements.
More Gold is around 1900 after CPI data in U. S.
