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President Joe Biden will take part in a Mexico City summit with the leaders of Canada and Mexico next month, according to The Hill.

The meetings: President Biden will take part in a joint meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as a one-on-one dialogue with López Obrador. The conversations will take place on Jan. 9 and 10.

The topics: A national security spokesperson said that the summit would include conversations on issue areas like climate and the environment, diversity and inclusion, migration and the economic competitiveness of North American countries.

Why it matters: “Next month’s gathering in Mexico City will mark just the second North American Leaders’ Summit since the Obama administration. Biden hosted the leaders of Mexico and Canada at the White House last year for the North American Leaders’ Summit.”

The context: The meetings will be happening at a time when Mexico and Canada have taken measures that create new regulatory hurdles and other commercial challenges that negatively impact market access for manufacturers in an array of sectors. Notably, Mexico’s harmful policies include:

• Energy and electric power generation measures that favor the interests of Mexican state-owned entities over U.S. companies;
• Expanded food-labeling requirements in Mexico that threaten U.S. exports;
• A failure of Mexico’s regulators to promote competition in the telecommunications market;
• Measures announced by Mexico’s tax administration that would require excessively burdensome electronic waybills;
• A ban on imports of crop-protection products and biotechnology-derived agricultural products;
• Efforts to introduce new, problematic technical regulations and compliance requirements; and
• Denials and delays in the issuance of operating and customs permits.

Our take: “Addressing the commercial challenges faced by manufacturers in Mexico and Canada will be critical to enhance the competitiveness of our industry in America and will support the millions of workers in our country whose jobs depend on trade,” said NAM Vice President of International Economic Affairs Ken Monahan. “Manufacturers respectfully encourage President Biden to prioritize such challenges at next month’s North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City.”