AMLO offers dialogue to Canadian companies

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the North American Leaders’ Summit that he is open to dialogue with companies from the latter country to resolve discrepancies. 

"The Mexican president... established a commitment to receive Canadian companies with pending issues, to whom he ratified that our country remains open to dialogue," said a statement from Mexico’s government about the meeting in which both leaders promised to advance in topics such as the economic integration opportunities offered by the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement (USMCA).

Prior to the bilateral meeting in Mexico City where the summit closed on Wednesday, AMLO said he had spoken with Trudeau about investment plans and pending differences to be resolved, especially those related to energy policy. "We are always open to dialogue," he said.

“We have dealt with economic issues related to investments by Canadian companies in Mexico, mining companies, important companies such as TransCanada that is investing to build a gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a large investment that’s very important, because it will mean supplying gas to the southeast of Mexico,” AMLO said.

“We have also talked about companies that are operating in the electricity sector, we are looking to solve problems, differences that logically arise when it comes to these economic, commercial relations, and also in good times, because Canadian investment in Mexico is growing a lot, like never before," he added.

Since last July, Canada and the United States have requested consultations with Mexico about its energy policy, after denouncing that the intention is to benefit state companies such as utility CFE to the detriment of foreign ones, despite the commitments assumed in USMCA.

Before traveling to Mexico, Trudeau told Reuters that, together with the United States, he would tell López Obrador that resolving disputes over policies that favor Mexican state energy companies would help attract more foreign investment.

The AMLO government has criticized on several occasions the alleged non-payment of taxes by Canadian companies, as well as their alleged effects on native communities, an issue on which the two leaders also signed commitments on rights and environmental damage.

Canada’s First Majestic Silver began arbitration proceedings against Mexico in March 2020 in a protracted tax dispute concerning its San Dimas gold-silver mine, after the government refused to negotiate.

At the beginning of December, Mexico’s economy minister Raquel Buenrostro criticized mining companies in a press conference for, according to her, paying just 0.002% of their total income in tax.