AMLO shrugs off US lawmakers' energy complaints

Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador downplayed complaints of 21 bipartisan US lawmakers who called on President Joe Biden to focus attention on energy policies there that are hurting US investors.

The letter that followed other similar efforts underscored how recent changes to Mexico's energy policy limited even more the participation of US companies and need the US president's "immediate and sustained attention and a timely solution."

The letter was signed by Republican senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas and James Inhofe of Oklahoma and 17 members of the US House of Representatives, including Democrat Henry Cuellar of Texas.

But the lawmakers represent a minority, Lopez Obrador said.

"There is really no problem," Lopez Obrador said today. "Mexico's situation is exceptional, unbeatable for investment. We see, as always, some who protest, but they are an insignificant minority."

The lawmakers argued that Mexico's policies "undermines the spirit and letter of the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement (USMCA) and affects the livelihoods of our fellow Americans working in the energy sector."

Mexico's recent policy changes deepen the favoritism for state-owned Pemex and CFE in regulatory proceedings that began under the administration of Lopez Obrador, the lawmakers wrote in a letter directed to Biden.

The letter follow several and diverse regulatory measures in the Mexican fuel sector, including a reform that made it harder for private companies to get fuel import and operating permits, a modification to free Pemex from rules that curbed its market power, modifications in the customs law to add hurdles to imports in private-sector owned ports and terminals, and the creation of a state-owned LPG retail company.

Recently passed reforms to the power sector that give dispatch preferences to utility CFE will increase costs for Mexican consumers and manufacturers, and could raise CO2 emissions, the US lawmakers added.

Mexico's economy and trade secretary Tatiana Clouthier is in Washington DC to asses the implementation of the USMCA and continue discussions with her counterpart, US trade representative Katherine Tai, who raised the energy policy complaints during a recent visit to Mexico City.

By Sergio Meana