On day two of Mexico Summit, Biden to talk Ukraine-Russia war, clean energy with Canada

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Biden lands in Texas during first trip to southern border as president

President Joe Biden was met by Governor Greg Abbott as he landed in El Paso, Texas in first trip to the southern border as president.

Claire Hardwick, USA TODAY

MEXICO CITY – President Joe Biden kicks off day two of the North American Leaders’ Summit Tuesday with a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, where the two leaders are set to discuss clean energy and support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The meeting will likely build on previous goals established at the G20 conference in Bali last November, where both Biden and Trudeau were present.

The meeting also comes weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Biden in Washington D.C. and addressed a joint session of Congress to ask for more aid to Ukraine. Congress went on to allocate about $45 billion in additional emergency assistance to Ukraine following Zelenskyy’s remarks.

Biden has repeatedly reaffirmed the United States alliance with Ukraine and has oftentimes turned to other allies to try and get more aid to the country.

The latest

  • Seeing eye to eye: The meeting between the two leaders will likely have few fireworks, as the two leaders share similar goals in addressing climate change.
  • A family photo: Biden, Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador are expected to take a photo before heading into the trilateral meeting.
  • The trilateral meeting: The meeting between the three North American leaders will take place after the meeting, where they will talk about a number of issues like supply chain, clean energy, and trade.
  • This is the 10th North American Leaders Summit. Biden held the last one in November 2021 in Washington D.C.
  • Biden met with López Obrador Monday evening, where the two discussed migration, fentanyl and energy.

Top takeaways

While Biden’s meeting with Trudeau will likely be all kumbaya, the meeting between the three leaders could cause some sparks over the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Canada and the United States have to decide whether to go to a dispute settlement panel under USMCA against Mexico for favoring its state-owned energy suppliers. 

And Canada and Mexico also have their own gripes with the United States.

Mexico and Canada have argued the United States is not applying what was agreed upon for USMCA on how to treat autos and cars vehicles. The two countries called for a dispute settlement panel, where they argued that more vehicles should be considered for duty-free shipping.

Want to know more? Here’s what you missed.

Day one of North American Leaders’ Summit: Biden is in Mexico City. His first action? Asking the Mexican president for help with fentanyl

What’s on the agenda: Biden, visiting Mexico, will highlight rising fentanyl deaths and record migrant crossings

From the El Paso border: Biden faces pleas for help on migrant crisis as he visits El Paso in first trip to border

Reach Rebecca Morin at Twitter @RebeccaMorin_