MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Blinken offers Mexico to join US semiconductor program

AMLO and Blinken also reviewed other issues such as migration, and security (ahead of next month's high-level meeting in Washington DC).

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Mexico City Monday and extended an invitation to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) to participate in a semiconductor and electromobility investment package announced by the Joseph Biden administration worth US$ 50 billion.

Blinken described his meeting with AMLO as “productive and friendly.” It lasted two hours, twice as long as planned. The visiting official also stressed that Mexico and the United States have opportunities to build an energy future that promotes climate goals.

“One of the issues that we focused on today with President Lopez Obrador is something that I think has been a vision that he has, which is the integration of our economies, one of the ways to achieve this is through clean energy, we can be leaders for example in the production of electric vehicles, but produce them together. We have a shared commitment that by 2030, 50% of the vehicles sold will be electric,” Blinken said.

Asked about the consultation requested by the US government to review Mexico's energy policy within the framework of the TMEC, Antony Blinken said: “If there is some kind of controversy it is a good way to resolve it. While we may have a problem to resolve, we are moving forward with full force and full momentum to integrate our economies and build the most competitive region in the world.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard also pointed out on Twitter that it ”was a very good meeting, very cordial,“ as he explained Mexico was invited to participate in the new investment package that the United States has just announced in semiconductors and electromobility.

”Mexico takes the offers made to us by the United States very generously, because we have received the invitation to participate as partners, as allies that we are, in various initiatives that President Biden's administration has taken that have to do with semiconductors, we have an invitation that is received perhaps once in a lifetime. So we are going to take it and thank you very much for thinking of Mexico, it is a historic opportunity for Mexico. This means jobs, integration, future for Mexico. Perhaps, we think, Mexico could grow twice as much as it is growing today,“ Ebrard argued.

Ebrard also said that the meeting resulted in ”positive things“ for his country, and referred that the topics discussed were ”investments and the next North American Leaders' Summit, which will most likely be in December.”

He also underlined that the energy issue, on which there are differences between the two nations, locked in a dispute within the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), to which Canada also belongs, was not the subject of this meeting, but affirmed that “when there are differences there are panels, there are dialogues and everything”.

Also taking part in the meeting was US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.

“The United States is investing heavily in the domestic semiconductor industry, there are going to be opportunities for Mexican workers and companies as well. We expect that the first funds will be invested in the first half of next year, the opportunity for Mexico, I believe, is not only concerning factories, but also in testing and packaging, as we spoke today with President López Obrador, this means opportunities for everyone at all levels,” Raimondo said.

“We didn't talk very deeply about this issue, but what I wanted to add is that what companies are looking for is transparency and predictability,” she added.

AMLO and Blinken also reviewed other issues such as migration, and security (ahead of next month's high-level meeting in Washington DC).

The US investment package announced a week ago seeks to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing after sanctions imposed by China following Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.