During the High Level Economic Dialogue (HLED), held at the White House this Thursday, the rethinking of the possible reopening of the border for non-essential travel was put on the table by Secretary of Economy Tatiana Clouthier.

At the press conference held at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and Clouthier commented that this issue was proposed as an economic driver for both sides of the border. What both ambassadors did not know or comment on is whether there was any response from the U.S. government.

Secretary Clouthier added that the reopening of the border was linked to trade facilitation, one of the central themes of the HLED.

"The reopening was raised by Secretary Clouthier and Ambassador Moctezuma. It was raised as a logical thing when talking about the border. In other words, the sooner we can fully reactivate economic activity and border crossings, the better, not only for Mexico, but also for the United States," added the Foreign Minister.

Present at this year's HLED on behalf of Mexico were: Ambassador Esteban Moctezuma Barragán; the head of the Foreign Minister's Office, Daniel Millán Valencia; the director of Economic Affairs, Farid Hannan Goyri; and the head of the North American Unit, Roberto Velasco Álvarez.

Representing the United States were U.S. Ambassador-designate Ken Salazar; Deputy White House Assistant Secretary Ricardo Zúñiga; Assistant Secretary for Civilian Security Uzra Zeya; National Security Council Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere Juan González; and Deputy Bureau Chief Tom Sullivan. It should be noted that the HLED was first conducted in 2016.

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