The United States and Mexico promised Friday to address the root causes of soaring migration and to boost lucrative work together on semiconductors as they opened a pair of top-level meetings.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Friday with top trade officials of the two countries and next week will travel to Mexico City, where the top US diplomat will hold security talks and meet President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, according to US officials.
The meetings come after a spike in the number of people — mostly from Central America and Venezuela — who are seeking to cross Mexico into the United States, causing a political headache for President Joe Biden and fresh costs for Mexico.
Blinken said that the United States and Mexico would seek to create greater economic security in Central American nations where poverty, violence and natural disasters have been driving people to leave.
“When they can put food on the table for their kids, when they can build a future at home, that’s exactly what they’ll choose to do, and they’re less likely to undertake the very dangerous and hazardous journey north,” Blinken told a joint news conference.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Alicia Barcena highlighted joint US and Mexican assistance in Central America and called for a “hemispheric” perspective on the issue.
“We agreed to look at the structural causes of migration,” she said.
Blinken is expected to discuss migration in greater detail in Mexico City, where he will travel with Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The Washington talks focused on economic cooperation, with the Biden administration saying it will work to integrate Mexico into its major investment push in semiconductors as the United States tries to reduce reliance on technology from China.
“There is a huge opportunity for Mexico to also participate in the economic benefits of the supply chain,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.
Mexican Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro boasted that her country’s engineers “are among the best trained in the world.”
“Mexico and the United States are working to see how we can complement each other and have the strongest possible supply chain on semiconductors,” she said.
Mexico has been looking to prioritize economic cooperation with the United States but the relationship has frequently been overshadowed by concerns over migration and drug and gun smuggling over the 1,954-mile (3,145-kilometer) border.
Under a setup dating from Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, Mexico has agreed to keep migrants as they seek to enter the United States.
The Biden administration has kept in place Trump’s hard line on unauthorized border crossings but, calling for more humane treatment, has set up centers where migrants can apply to travel legally and avoid turning to smugglers.
Mexico last week agreed to take further action and deport migrants from border cities after a surge in arrivals.
