At the beginning of this new year, the president-elect of the United States Joe Biden was finally ratified by Congress and will take office on January 20. This marks the end of Donald Trump's presidency at the head of the most powerful country in the world, also marked by disdain for the major environmental problems we are experiencing and that in part have us in the current health crisis.
On the other hand, Biden arrives. From the outset, the new president wishes to place among his government's highest priorities the fight against climate change and the strengthening of environmental justice to protect the most vulnerable groups in society. 1 At the same time, in the last legislative elections, the Democratic Party won control of both houses, that of representatives and that of senators, so that Biden and his party will have enough strength to promote a strong national policy in this area.
What happens in the United States can have a significant impact on Mexico. The administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador should not lose sight of this. The fact that the new Biden administration positions climate change as a factor of national security and that it implements public policies to address it, is a factor to consider in Mexico in areas such as energy policy for renewable sources or economic policy in terms of attracting and maintaining investment from that country.
The election of Biden and of a legislature with a democratic majority will possibly put more pressure on Mexico to implement and comply with the measures included in the T-MEC and which were part of the conditioning factors for democratic legislators to support the signing of the new treaty. 2 With Donald Trump, the bilateral agenda remained only on migration issues. This could take a turn with Biden where the use of renewable energy is being promoted more actively within the T-MEC, hand in hand with the global leadership role that the new Biden administration wants to assume in the challenge posed by climate change.
The T-MEC goes beyond climate change by touching on an infinite number of topics in areas such as biodiversity, oceans, the environment, as well as issues related to environmental justice and the right of access to information. It is important to note that this part of the treaty was promoted by members of the Democratic Party and by the lobbying of environmental organizations in the United States. Now that the Democratic Party is the government and has a majority in Congress, it is to be expected that more pressure will be put on Mexico to comply with the provisions of the T-MEC.
At a more general level, the U.S. foreign policy agenda is becoming more diverse as it was before Trump, where other issues such as the protection of human rights, the strengthening of civil society and democratic institutions will be included. It is to be expected that there will be greater friction in these other areas with the AMLO government due to the contempt expressed by the latter to civil organizations and critical media. Initially, Joe Biden, in his first communication with AMLO, highlighted his administration's interest in working with the Mexican government together with civil society, the private sector and international organizations on migration issues.
In general terms, the arrival of the Biden administration to the United States may be good for Mexico, but not necessarily for the government led by López Obrador. 3 It will definitely give a healthy renewal to the relationship between the two countries after the presidency of Donald Trump, characterized by a focus on migration and by the disregard for environmental issues. The Joe Biden administration can be a healthy incentive from abroad for the Mexican government to reconsider its current energy policy, and in general to promote a green economy low in the use of fossil fuels, the protection of biodiversity and the oceans, agendas already included in the T-MEC that came into force in mid-2020. It should also be noted that greater importance is given to civil organizations in discussions on these issues between the two countries. 2021 will be a crucial year for defining the type of direction that the relationship between the two governments will take in the following years.
Notes:
1 See Joe Bide, “The Biden Plan for a Clean Energy and Environmental Justice Revolution,” available at: https://joebiden.com/es/el-plan-biden-para-una-revolucion-de-energia-limpia-y-justicia-ambiental/
2 Courtney Vinopal, “These 4 changes helped Trump and Democrats agree to the USMCA trade deal,” PBS, December 11, 2020. Available at: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/these-4-changes-helped-trump-and-democrats-agree-to-the-usmca-trade-deal
3 Jorge G. Castañeda, “Opinion | Biden will be good for Mexico, but bad for AMLO”, CNN Mexico, November 12, 2020. Available at: https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2020/11/12/opinion-biden-sera-bueno-para-mexico-pero-malo-para-amlo/
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