AMLO and Trump plan a frenemies’ get-together

HISTORY WILL record the Mexican-American summit to take place on July 8th-9th as one of the odder ones. It will be a rare face-to-face meeting in the covid-19 era, bringing together leaders who are notably reluctant to promote social distancing. (Their countries have bigger caseloads as a result.) President Donald Trump has often bullied Mexico since he announced his candidacy in 2015. Nonetheless, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is often called AMLO, has chosen to make the White House his first foreign destination since taking office 19 months ago. The pretext is to celebrate the entry into force on July 1st of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a slightly altered version of a free-trade pact that Mr Trump said he hated. Yet it is not clear that Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, will join the festivities.

A meeting of Mexican and American presidents normally boosts a relationship that is vital for both countries, especially in the areas of trade, immigration and crime. The Trump-AMLO encounter is unlikely to achieve that. It is not clear what AMLO will gain from the summit except frequent-flyer miles (he flies commercial, and will have to change planes en route to Washington).

Mr Trump’s main goal will probably be to distract attention from the pandemic and the recession that have clobbered his...