LOS ANGELES (AP) – President Joe Biden tried to present a unifying vision for the Western Hemisphere on Thursday, although the US summit was shattered by divisions and absences that make it difficult to unite North and South America around common migration goals. and climate.
Differences in wealth, governance and national interests mean that it is a challenge for Biden to duplicate the partnerships he has forged in Asia and Europe. This created limited expectations for a summit hosted by the United States for the first time since 1994.
With diplomatic efforts strained by boycotts of summits and legislative proposals blocked in a polarized Congress, Biden has focused on trying to get corporations and the private sector behind. His administration hopes financial ties will help bridge regional disparities while fostering economic growth and greater equality.
“My challenge to all of you is that if you step up and play a greater role in fostering inclusive, sustainable, equitable growth in the 21st century, a lot will happen,” Biden said in an address to CEOs. “None of us will be able to fully realize our ambition for the region alone.”
Before Biden took the stage, the background was an animation showing fragments of colors flying together to form a neat map of North and South America. Yet in reality, the process has hardly been so in sync, especially with the remarkable boycott of the Mexican president’s summit and the uncertainty of whether there are the right incentives for Latin America to get closer to the United States.
“It’s always been hard to find consensus in Latin America,” said Ryan Berg, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. “This is an extremely diverse region and it is obviously difficult for him to speak with one voice.”
On a busy day of diplomacy, the US president met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, had to hold talks with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and deliver a speech to a wider audience. Vice President Kamala Harris met with Caribbean leaders to discuss clean energy, and First Lady Jill Biden hosted a brunch to build relationships with other spouses.
The day was to end with dinner at Villa Getty, an art museum overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
There may be tension when Biden first meets with Bolsonaro, an ally of former President Donald Trump. Bolsonaro is running for a second term and is questioning the credibility of his country’s election, something that has worried Washington officials.
When Bolsonaro accepted an invitation to the summit, he asked Biden not to oppose him over his election attacks, according to three of the Brazilian leader’s cabinet ministers, who requested anonymity to discuss the issue.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, dismissed the idea that Biden had agreed to any terms for meeting with Bolsonaro.
“There are no issues that are not resolved in the bilateral relations that the president is making, including with President Bolsonaro,” Sullivan told reporters. He added: “I expect the president to discuss open, free, fair and transparent democratic elections.
The very essence of democracy has become an obstacle in planning the guest list for the event. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wanted the leaders of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua to be invited, but the United States resisted because it considered them authoritarian.
In the end, no agreement could be reached and Lopez Obrador decided not to attend. Nor do the presidents of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Honduras; Foreign Affairs Secretary Eduardo Enrique Reina spoke of President Xiomara Castro’s decision to stay away.
“The president was very clear that this should be a summit without exception,” Reina said. However, he said the Honduran government was ready to work on common issues, saying: “There is the political will to work with all countries in America.”
It is a reminder that relations with Latin America have proved difficult for the administration, even as it strengthens ties in Europe, where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked closer cooperation, and in Asia, where growing Chinese influence has shaken some countries in the region.
One challenge is the unerring imbalance of power in the hemisphere.
World Bank data show that the US economy is more than 14 times larger than Brazil, the next largest economy at the summit. Sanctions imposed on the United States and its allies against Russia are much tougher in Brazil, which imports fertilizers from Russia. Trade data show that the region has deep ties with China, which has also made investments.
This leaves the United States in a position to show Latin America why closer relations with Washington would be more profitable at a time when economies are still struggling to emerge from the pandemic and inflation has worsened conditions.
Sullivan promised that the United States would “invest concrete dollars to achieve tangible results” in the region, training workers and money for food security, among other things.
“When you consider all this and look at the practical impact of the results of the United States summit on the public sphere, it has a much greater impact on real life and livelihoods in the region than the types of mining projects in which “China has invested,” he said.
Harris emphasizes investing in the private sector to address the region’s challenges, especially when it comes to reducing migration by offering more economic opportunities in people’s home countries.
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Boke reported from Washington. Associated Press authors Deborah Alvarez of Brazil, Brazil, and Eliot Spagat of Los Angeles contributed to the report.
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