U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet Friday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, conference in San Francisco.
In a statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the two leaders will discuss “ongoing efforts to strengthen the U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship and address issues of shared concern.”
The statement said they would also discuss “how to work together as partners” to manage migration at our shared border and mobilize a hemispheric-wide response to this challenge.”
During last month’s U.S. Mexico High Level Security Dialogue, U.S. and Mexican officials focused heavily on the issue of fentanyl trafficking between the two nations and that is expected to be on the agenda for Friday’s meeting as well.
The two leaders will certainly discuss trade, as this year Mexico became the top U.S. trading partner, last year exchanging more than $860 billion in goods and services, an all-time high.
The Associated Press reports López Obrador said he would also use Friday's meeting to take up the case for Cuba and would urge Biden to resume a dialogue with the island nation and end U.S. sanctions.
Biden met with President Xi Jinping on Wednesday and used Thursday to highlight strong economic ties between the U.S. and the other Pacific nations. The president will have one final large gathering of leaders Friday where he will formally transfer the APEC chair to Peruvian President Dina Boluarte.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
