The North American Leaders Summit (NALS), which took place in Mexico City, is the second trilateral meeting celebrated since the renovation of the Treaty that came into effect in July 2020 (USMCA). It was built upon the idea of strengthening regional economic competitiveness due to events like the Covid-19 pandemic that transformed international trade flows and investment. The three countries together generate one-third of the total economic activity in the world and represent a market of more than 500 million people. Between them, they are systematically the largest trading partner of one another. Therefore, approximately half of the economic activity in North America is intra-regional trade.

Before the Summit, on January 9th, a bilateral meeting was held where Manuel López Obrador urged his US counterpart Joe Biden to end the disdain for Latin America and support the economic and social development of the region. "Joining and partnering in the Americas is the ultimate consolidation of the world's most important region. There are many advantages. Among others, we have a young and creative workforce, technological development, and a wealth of natural resources. The distances between our countries allow us to save on transportation costs, and there is sufficient demand in our markets," he said. On the other side, President Biden confirmed that the US is the country with the highest overseas assistance in the world. Unfortunately, he said, the responsibility extends to Africa, Europe, Asia, Middle East, not only the Western Hemisphere.

The event was expected with optimism and urgency due to several common topics that were not discussed last year. The three amigos summit maintained the commitment to "chart a new path for their partnership at a time when they face incredibly complex global challenges."  The working agenda covers different issues such as diversity, climate change, migration and development, health, regional security, and competitiveness in supply chain and nearshoring. The latter is one of the three most important goals of the ninth NALS. The economic factor was in the spotlight due to ongoing US-China trade disputes, supply shocks from COVID-19, and Russia's attack on Ukraine.

They committed to fighting against environmental challenges by "building clean energy economies and responding to the climate crisis." They also reaffirmed their compromise to "work together to achieve safe, orderly, and humane migration in the region. In particular, the United States, Mexico, and Canada will continue to champion the expansion of legal pathways and other humane measures to address irregular migration in the region". In terms of border/regional security; they agreed to "coordinate actions and strategies to combat arms and drug trafficking, as well as trafficking in persons, that represent a shared threat to the three countries."

During the Summit, the representatives discussed and examined the progress around NALS objectives. The expected outcomes are mainly economic, where nearshoring can help to boost regional economic development. The urgent need to strengthen supply chains opens opportunities to develop closer-to-home logistics management. They offer attractive advantages, including a more accessible supply network, shorter transportation routes, reduced geopolitical risk, and common language, values, and time zone. In other words, NALS can help Latin America to reduce transaction costs and reinforce regionalization and nearshoring to achieve resilient and self-sustaining North American supply chains.

After these paramount trilateral talks, the chief officials offered a framework that could help Latin America to produce concrete and transparent progress. The list of the Summit highly influences the region. By deepening economic cooperation, promoting investment, and reinforcing competitiveness and innovation, they offer more jobs and economic development in neighboring countries, which addresses a primary reason for Central American migration. Additionally, they can strengthen SME centers and expand the idea across the region as SMEs are the "primary source of job creation, comprising 99.5 percent of firms in the region, and accounting for 60 percent of employment."

In conclusion, the North American Leaders Summit agreed on their full potential to promote competitiveness and collaboration to advance in key priorities. The US, Canadian and Mexican economies are interlaced like no other economies in the world. Consequently, their actions directly affect the daily lives of their citizens, and it is convenient to unlock the great potential of this event to boost North America and Latin America's prosperity.

A joint statement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and President Joe Biden condemned the attacks on Brazil that happened on January 8th affecting its democracy and change of power. They continue supporting the free will of people as well as democratic public institutions. 

*Image from People’s Dispatch.