President Biden and President Lopez Obrador Joint Statement

The United States and Mexico affirm our broad and deep cooperation and commitment to building a more prosperous and secure future for the people of North America. As we face unprecedented global and regional challenges that require the concerted efforts of both our nations, we uphold democracy, inclusive growth, transparency, rule of law, and human rights as core values that underpin our shared security and prosperity.

The United States and Mexico, together with Canada, represent an economic powerhouse. The foundation of North American competitiveness is the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and we reaffirm our commitment to its full implementation for the benefit of working families, including by fully upholding its labor provisions and actively collaborating with stakeholders in the private sector and civil society. Through active coordination of our economic policies, we will make our supply chains more resilient and expand production in North America. We look forward to working on this and other relevant issues at the 10th North American Leaders Summit (NALS), which will take place in Mexico at the end of the year.

Increasing inflation impacts the wellbeing of families in both our countries, and requires strong, immediate, and concerted action. That is why we have committed to jointly combat inflation by accelerating the facilitation of bilateral trade and reducing trade costs. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement enhances the free flow of goods without barriers, which promotes innovation that boosts productivity and increases resilience, helping both countries fight inflation and supporting families. As part of joint efforts to improve food security, Mexico plans to purchase up to 20,000 tons of milk powder from the United States to assist Mexican families in rural and urban communities. In addition, Mexico will buy up to one million tons of fertilizer (ammonium sulfate) from the United States to distribute to subsistence farmers and continue to buy animal feed to assist small producers.

Borders that are more resilient, more efficient, and safer, will enhance our shared commerce. We are committed like never before to completing a multi-year joint U.S.-Mexico border infrastructure modernization effort for projects along the 2,000-mile border. The joint effort seeks to align priorities, unite border communities, and make the flow of commerce and people more secure and efficient. President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $3.4 billion to undertake 26 major construction and modernization projects at land ports of entry on the northern and southern border. These land port modernization projects will create good-paying local jobs, bolster safety and security, and make the economy more resilient to supply chain challenges – all while serving as models for sustainability and innovation. Mexico has committed to invest $1.5 billion on border infrastructure between 2022 and 2024.

The next U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue (HLED) in September will focus on strengthening mechanisms to create more secure and efficient corridors for trade and commerce, foster an environment that encourages investment to help generate more and better jobs for our people in both countries. We confirm our efforts to create a more inclusive workforce that is better educated, more competitive, and better trained to meet the needs of the 21st Century economy. We reiterate our commitment to conduct outreach to understand stakeholder considerations to increase investment and bolster supply chain resilience, specifically on strategic sectors like semiconductors and information and communication technologies. We will focus our development efforts on climate solutions and the development of southern Mexico, with its vast human potential and important opportunities for commerce, conservation, and clean energy.

Facing the shared challenges of climate change, we resolve to promote a business environment that advances a greener, cleaner North America, acknowledging the importance of investing in and promoting renewable sources of energy. We commit to tackle methane emissions from oil and gas and other sectors, accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles, and deepen our efforts to seek nature-based solutions, enabling our two countries to become global leaders in clean energies and actions to combat climate change. In support of the Global Methane Pledge and Global Methane Pledge Energy Pathway, Mexico and Pemex, in cooperation with the U.S., will develop an implementation plan to eliminate routine flaring and venting across onshore and offshore oil and gas operations and identify priority projects for investment.

Through the Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health, and Safe Communities, we reaffirmed our commitment to work together to address major security issues affecting our nations, including the challenges of fentanyl, arms trafficking, and human smuggling, and to reduce levels of drug abuse and addiction. We committed to deepen our cooperation to combat transnational criminal organizations that foment violence in both our countries. We reaffirmed the robust operational efforts between law enforcement agencies to address these paramount security efforts. We pledged to establish a U.S.-Mexico operational task force to disrupt the flow of fentanyl into our countries.

Building on the commitments at the Summit of the Americas made by twenty-one countries in the hemisphere pursuant to the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, we are taking immediate and coordinated steps to manage the flows of migrants arriving into our countries. We have joined efforts to address the underlying economic and security drivers of migration and, recognizing that development must be at the center of all migration policies, we will accelerate and expand international cooperation programs focused on the most marginalized communities. At the same time, we will maintain strong border enforcement policies while ensuring full protection of human rights.

The United States and Mexico reaffirmed our commitment to launch a bilateral working group on labor migration pathways and worker protections. We will work to promote greater worker protections as part of a labor mobility strategy for migrant workers who seek access to legal pathways. Mexico and the United States will also convene a working group to strengthen our cross-border response to child migration, a phenomenon that has significantly impacted both of our countries and puts youth in unnecessary peril. We also reaffirm our pledge to improve economic and social conditions throughout the region, creating dignified job opportunities as viable alternatives for potential migrants, and helping tackle the root causes of migration across the Americas.

The tragic deaths of migrants at the hands of human smugglers in San Antonio further strengthens our determination to go after the multi-billion-dollar criminal smuggling industry preying on migrants and increase our efforts to address the root causes of migration. The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security and Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office have coordinated to arrest and prosecute those who endanger the lives of vulnerable migrants, including through the work of Joint Task Force Alpha and its Mexican partners. This year our countries will celebrate 200 years of formal diplomatic relations. As neighbors, friends, and family, we are united as two nations that share one future.