Obama Heads to Mexico Meeting With Amigos Strained by Keystone
Obama Heads to Mexico Meeting With Amigos Strained by Keystone
COA’s Eric Farnsworth comments on Canada’s Keystone project as one of the topics likely to be addressed during the North American Leaders’ Summit in Toluca, Mexico.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s frustration with U.S. President Barack Obama’s failure to approve the Keystone XL pipeline may make this installment of the North America summit, known as the “Three Amigos,” the frostiest since the annual meetings began almost a decade ago.
At the one-day meeting tomorrow in Toluca, Mexico, with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Harper, Obama is bringing an agenda focused on trade, education, border security and stopping drug trafficking. Yet 20 years after the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect, the U.S. and Canada are at loggerheads over a $5.4 billion collaboration that would carry oil south from the thick sands of Alberta to American refineries along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana....
Obama’s Message
Obama plans to deliver that same message to Harper, an administration official said, asking for anonymity to brief reporters on the summit plans last week.
“It’s clearly something that is an aggravation to the Canadians and something they want to see resolved quickly,” said Eric Farnsworth, head of the Washington office of the Council of the Americas. “In their minds they’ve been looking for an answer for a long time.”
For his part, President Pena Nieto wants to use the summit to show off the capital of Mexico State, a powerhouse of manufacturing for foreign companies from Chrysler Group LLC to Nestle SA (NESN), Wood said. Pena Nieto, 47, grew up in Toluca and served six years as governor of Mexico’s most populous state, and his public infrastructure accomplishments helped catapult him to the presidency....
