U.S. Envoy John Kerry to meet with Mexico’s AMLO
U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry will meet Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) today in Hermosillo, Mexico.
Topics for discussion include increasing Mexican solar energy production, cross-border automotive manufacturing and expanding lithium mining in the Mexican state of Sonora in order to supply U.S. battery manufacturers.
In January, Obrador created the Sonora Plan, which would invest $485 million to develop Sonora’s utility and logistics infrastructure. Then, in April, he nationalized Sonora’s lithium resources and setup a state-run company to mine and refine the mineral. A 2022 U.S. Geological Survey report estimated that Mexico has 1.7 million tons of unmined lithium reserves, the 9th largest in the world. However, Mexico’s new state-run company may fail to fully develop Mexico’s lithium mining and refining due to the country’s poor infrastructure, on-going violent conflict and rampant corruption.
Today’s meeting will likely lead to more substantive and open U.S.-Mexico talks in the coming months over their energy policies, especially as the U.S. pushes to expand its own lithium production. The transition to electric vehicles in the developed world will likely increase the demand for lithium and provide Mexico’s government with another source of revenue even if the country’s production potential is not fully realized.
