Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the North American Leaders Summit that he is open to dialogue with Canadian businesses to resolve the discrepancies.

Mexico’s president “has made a commitment to receive Canadian companies with outstanding issues,” to whom he has ratified his willingness to speak, says a statement from the Mexican government about the meeting in which the two leaders promised to move forward on issues such as the opportunities for integration offered by the treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC).

Ahead of the bilateral meeting in Mexico City, where the summit ended on Wednesday, AMLO said it discussed with Trudeau investment plans and disputes to be resolved on various topics, including related to energy policy. “We are always open to dialogue,” he repeated.

“We discussed economic issues related to investments by Canadian companies in Mexico, mining companies, major companies like TransCanada, which is investing to build a gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico. It is a big and very important investment, because it will be a question of supplying gas to the south-east of Mexico”, indicated the Mexican president.

“We are also talking about companies that operate in the electricity sector. We seek to resolve issues, disagreements that logically arise with respect to these economic and trade relations, and also in good times, as Canadian investment in Mexico is increasing like never before,” he added.

Since last July, Canada and the United States have asked Mexico for consultations on energy policy, after having denounced that their intention was to favor public companies such as CFE electricity to the detriment of foreign companies, despite the commitments made in the T-MEC.

Before heading to Mexico, Trudeau told Reuters that, together with the United States, he would advise AMLO that resolving the dispute over policies favoring Mexican energy companies would help it attract more foreign investment.

The Mexican government has repeatedly criticized alleged non-payment of taxes by Canadian companies, as well as alleged effects on indigenous communities, an issue on which the two leaders signed undertakings on rights and environmental damages.

After the Mexican government refused to negotiate, Canadian First Majestic Silver initiated arbitration proceedings against Mexico in March 2020 in a protracted tax dispute related to its San Dimas gold and silver mine .

In early December, Mexico’s Economy Secretary Raquel Buenrostro slammed mining companies at a press conference for, she says, only paying the treasury 0.002% of their total revenues.