US-Mexican presidents hold virtual meeting

President Joe Biden held a virtual meeting Monday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — a chance for the pair to talk more fully about migration, confronting the coronavirus and cooperating on economic and national security issues.

Speaking from the White House's Roosevelt Room, Biden started the conversation recalling that of the 16 visits he made to Latin America as Vice President, four were to Mexico.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador thanked Biden for starting the conversation by saying that Mexico was important to the United States.

López Obrador joked that a previous Mexican president used to say, "poor Mexico so far from God and yet so close to the United States," adding that he can now say '"it's wonderful for Mexico to be close to God and not so far from the United States."

The United States shares a trade agreement — most recently updated in 2018 and 2019 — with Mexico and Canada, which are its second- and third-biggest trade partners after China.

Monday's virtual meeting was the second one held by the Biden administration. Last week Biden spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.