WASHINGTON — Reviving three-way North American summitry after a five-year break, President Joe Biden on Thursday joined with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to declare their nations can work together and prove “democracies can deliver” even as they sort out differences on key issues.
But as Biden, along with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, spoke of their mutual respect, the three leaders also found themselves dealing with fresh strains on trade, immigration, climate change and other matters.
“We can meet all the challenges if we just take the time to speak to one another, by working together,” said Biden, who hosted the North American neighbors for what had been a near-annual tradition in the decade before President Donald Trump came to office.
It was a day of full-on diplomacy that required careful choreography as Trudeau and Lopez Obrador each met separately with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris before gathering for a three-way conversation in the East Room that featured a language mix of English, French and Spanish.
As they played up the alliance, points of tension were also clear.
They include differences between Washington and Ottawa over proposed tax incentives that would benefit U.S. electric car auto manufacturers, frustration from López Obrador that the U.S. isn’t moving to issue more temporary work visas even as American businesses complain they suffer from a worker shortage, and disappointment by the U.S. and Canada that Mexico is not moving faster to address climate change.
Biden met first with Trudeau, calling the U.S.-Canada relationship one of the easiest in the early going of his presidency.
The president also confirmed their differences over proposed electric vehicle tax incentives in his massive social services and climate bill.
“We’re going to talk about that,” Biden said. “It hasn’t even passed yet in the House.”
The provision in Biden’s proposed spending plan would offer American consumers a $7,500 tax credit if they buy electric vehicles through 2026. The following year, only purchases of electric vehicles made in the U.S. would qualify for the credit. The base credit would go up by $4,500 if the vehicle was made at a U.S. plant that operates under a union-negotiated collective bargaining agreement.
