UPDATE 1: Mexico says that the energy dispute was not addressed at the summit of North American leaders

(Additional details, comments from Lopez Ombrador

MEXICO CITY (Reuters), January 12th, 2012 – North American leaders did not discuss the ongoing dispute over Mexico’s energy policies at a summit in Mexico City this Thursday, Mexican President Andres Lopez Obrador stated.

Washington and Ottawa initiated dispute settlement proceedings against Mexico’s plan to give preference to its state-run oil companies in July. The policy is discriminatory against private U.S. or Canadian firms.

Lopez Obrador said, “We didn’t discuss that,” at a press conference. Lopez Obrador noted that the dispute had its own resolution mechanism through the United States-Mexico Canada (USMCA), trade accord.

Lopez Obrador was accompanied by Joe Biden, American President, and Justin Trudeau as part of a trilateral summit held in Mexico City. On Monday, he held a bilateral meeting in Mexico City with Biden and on Wednesday with Trudeau.

Trudeau did raise Canada’s concerns over Mexico’s policies on energy, prompting Lopez Obrador’s announcement that he would

receive Canadian companies

That they had problems that they wanted to resolve.

Mexican President said that he would meet with one Canadian business to discuss an issue regarding electricity. It was related to self-supply permits. His government is trying to end them.

He didn’t name the company but said there were “one to two” companies that did mining without identifying them. He said he could meet with the company to discuss the electricity complaint within the next week.

Lopez Obrador met with U.S. businesses last year to discuss their energy sector problems.

However, it didn’t stop the U.S. Trade Representative from requesting dispute settlement negotiations. Canada joined immediately. According to industry sources and officials, the United States decided to take the initiative because it wasn’t satisfied with merely ad-hoc solutions for its energy concerns. (Reporting by Dave Graham Editing By Valentine Hilaire & Marguerita Choy