The lithium gamble
During the meeting with Blinken, López Obrador presented his plan for the exploitation of lithium, a key mineral in the manufacture of electric cars and new technologies, Ebrard commented.
In April, Mexico nationalized this sector, which is still incipient, although the Mexican government assures that there are important deposits in Sonora.
Regarding said plan, Clouthier pointed out that it seeks to work from “lithium extraction to electromobility.”
After that decision by Congress, promoted by López Obrador, the president announced at the end of August that he would open the exploitation of that mineral to private investors and that he had already made progress in talks with Biden on the matter.
Both presidents met in Washington on July 12.
Several of the main car factories such as Ford and Volkswagen are installed in Mexico, which supply the North American market, and require these components to produce increasingly technological vehicles.
According to Ebrard, Mexico’s participation in the development of semiconductors would allow the country “to grow at twice what it is growing today” and reduce poverty, which afflicts almost half of the 126 million Mexicans.
The Mexican Secretary of the Economy, Tatiana Clouthier, stated in turn that Mexico’s participation could be expanded to the area of research.
When asked about the consultations regarding the energy dispute that the United States and Canada requested from Mexico, within the framework of the T-MEC, Ebrard and the Secretary of Commerce of the United States, Gina Raimondo, commented that this was not a central issue in two-way conversation.
With information from AFP and Reuters
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