THREE AMIGOS SUMMIT 2023

WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED?

Last week’s North American Leadership Summit (NALS), or “Three Amigos” gathering, in Mexico City did hold some encouraging developments on the clean energy and nearshoring front, despite the three-day event January 9-11 being more about optics than anything else. From Mexico’s perspective, the absence of direct criticism of USMCA energy dispute could be seen as a success of sorts.  

The bulk of agreements came via a White House statement on summit deliverables, though the same exact list did not appear from Canadian or Mexican government channels. And one item (building a migrant processing center on the Mexican-Guatemala border) was outright denied in later comments by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).  

Several of the 28 agreements cited in the statement merit mention for specific industry impacts, including the following:  

• An accord between the three leaders of Canada, Mexico and the US to hold a first-ever trilateral semiconductor summit with industry representatives and cabinet-level officials “in early 2023”.