By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

While Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) claimed on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 5, that his phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier in the day had been all smooth sailing, with Trudeau showing no opposition to his proposed electricity reform, the Canadian leader presented a very different interpretation of the conversation.

According to Canadian government sources, Trudeau defended Canadian energy investments in the call with AMLO, describing them as “important contributors to the Mexican economy.”

Just hours after López Obrador criticized private foreign companies in the energy sector during his press conference on Tuesday, Trudeau’s office said in a statement that Canadian investments in the sector had been the main subject of debate during the phone call between the two heads of government.

“Both leaders discussed the mutually important bilateral economic relationship between their two countries, anchored in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA),” Trudeau’s office said.

“They discussed the important contributions that Canadian investors make to the Mexican economy, including in the energy sector. They agreed to continue working together to counteract climate change.”

According to data from the Canadian Ministry of International Trade for 2021, Canadian investments in the energy sector in Mexico exceed $10.3 billion, of which $4 billion correspond to renewable energy projects in electricity.

López Obrador presented a similarly rosy picture of his meeting with U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry on Thursday, March 30, claiming that the United States had no objections to his proposed reform.

Kerry, on the other hand, said that he had expressed his government’s concerns over the bill.

In addition to the energy issue, the Canadian government said that in the call Trudeau invited the Mexican president to participate on April 9 in an event to support refugees from Ukraine that is being organized by both Canada and the European Union.

AMLO, who has close ties with Moscow, has been offish to take a strong stand in defense of Ukraine and has refused to impose sanctions on Russia, even in the face of alleged acts of genocide against the Ukrainian people over the weekend.