President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday that “it is very likely” he will address the reopening of the Mexico/U.S. border during a virtual meeting scheduled Friday, May 7, with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.
The online chat is a precursor to Harris’s official visit to Mexico, which has been a long time in the planning, but this week was finally confirmed for Tuesday, June 8.
The key issues of immigration and joint efforts to stem the increased number of migrants heading to the United States will surely be at the top of the agenda on Friday, but Lopez Obrador said he will bring up the reopening of the common border, which has been closed to non-essential travel since March 21, 2020.
The president’s remarks come on the heels of a push by U.S. senators seeking to reopen the Canada/U.S. border after more than a year of pandemic-related disruptions.
The U.S./Mexico border is one of the busiest in the world, with – in normal times – more than a million people crossing daily, and goods and services valued at $US1.7 billion exchanged each day.
Lopez Obrador claimed “the U.S. side has been affected more than our side, which is why it is of mutual interest to fully open the border.”