Photo: President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (L) meets with President Joe Biden (R) in the Oval Office. Source: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden met with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the Oval Office. The Mexican government announced the meeting in early June after López Obrador chose not to attend the IX Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. López Obrador began the discussion with a 30-minute speech stressing the importance of bilateral cooperation in a period of inflation and gas price hikes. Both leaders committed to facilitating trade between their countries and relaxing trade costs. López Obrador also agreed to spend USD $1.5 billion over the next two years on modernizing ports of entry and enhancing the screening processes of migrants crossing from Mexico to the United States. Biden promised to double the current number of temporary visas issued to Central American migrants.
The meeting comes two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Biden administration’s decision to rescind the Trump-era Migration Protection Protocols. The program, commonly referred to as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, required asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while they awaited review of their claims.
