国务院表示，国务卿安东尼·布林肯(Antony Blinken)将作为美国最高外交官进行他的第一次“旅行”，尽管他实际上哪儿也不会去。
拜登政府的冠状病毒旅行限制仍然存在，Blinken将与他的墨西哥和加拿大同行周五在华盛顿通过视频电话会议。
但该机构热衷于展示新政府积极工作与美国盟友一起，正在与Blinken展开一系列“虚拟”旅行，在那里他将会见外国领导人和当地美国大使馆工作人员，“参观”不同的城市和文化遗址，宣布新的政策或协议，并举行新闻发布会，就像他在真正的旅行中一样。
美国国务院发言人内德·普莱斯(Ned Price)周四表示:“我们将此行设计得尽可能像一次实际的旅行，考虑到我们目前所处的现实，我们正在尽最大努力完成我们的外交使命，并进一步发展我们与我们密切的北美伙伴的关系。”
乔·拜登总统认为虚拟会议周二，加拿大总理贾斯廷·特鲁多也以类似的方式出席了会议，白宫称之为他的首次“双边会晤”，尽管双方通过视频电话会议进行了沟通。
虽然虚拟会议已经成为常态，但当有面对面的讨论时，外交往往效果最佳。
“建立联系、建立关系和感同身受要困难得多——因此，实现外交目标也更困难，”根据红十字国际委员会外交顾问尼古拉斯·霍顿和沙赫罗赫·沙克里安。“‘咖啡走廊连接’丢失了。在传统外交场所周围的非正式空间进行的讨论和建立的联系根本无法复制。”
这尤其给美墨关系带来了挑战，两国在贸易、能源、移民和打击贩毒方面关系紧张。
拜登政府震惊地拆除了前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)严厉的移民政策，包括强迫寻求庇护者留在墨西哥，这造成了与左翼民粹主义总统安德烈斯·曼努埃尔·洛佩斯·奥布拉多尔(Andres奥布拉多尔，简称AMLO)的紧张关系。
但AMLO的能源政策仍存在问题，美国批评人士称，这损害了美墨加自由贸易协定，即现代化的北美自由贸易协定。墨西哥国会面前的一项法案将给予国有公用事业公司向国家电网供电的优先权，使可再生能源部门边缘化。据美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)获得的美国国务卿、能源部长和商务部长的一封信显示，特朗普政府上月警告称，墨西哥必须“履行其美国管理认证协会义务”，否则将面临数亿美元的美国援助风险。
尚不清楚拜登政府是否也有同样的担忧。负责西半球事务的代理助理国务卿朱莉·钟(Julie Chung)表示，这个问题将在“中期和长期”进行讨论，因为我们从私营部门那里听到了他们所关心的许多方面——但这是我们鼓励墨西哥倾听利益相关者的意见，倾听私营部门公司的意见，并真正提供这种文化、自由投资的氛围和透明度，以便公司继续在墨西哥投资。
打击毒品贩子和加强安全也将是首要问题，尤其是在周一的逮捕臭名昭著的贩毒集团头目华金·古兹曼的妻子艾玛·科罗内尔·艾斯普罗。
上个月，墨西哥当局撤销了对前国防部长萨尔瓦多·西恩富戈斯(Salvador Cienfuegos)的指控。西恩富戈斯已被美国逮捕，并被指控贩毒。尽管据称承诺在国内起诉他，但西恩富戈斯被释放，墨西哥国会通过了一项法律，限制在该国运作的外国执法机构，并剥夺他们的外交豁免权。
钟告诉美国广播公司新闻，“我们在美国和墨西哥之间继续保持着非常强有力的各级合作”。“我们将确保共同解决这些执法问题，我们比以往任何时候都更加致力于利用一切工具来解决这些问题。”
在他的“访问”期间，布林肯将会见外交部长马塞洛·埃布拉德和经济部长塔蒂亚娜·克鲁塞尔，讨论贸易、移民、安全和其他问题。
他还将“近距离”参观北帕索，这是墨西哥华雷斯城和美国德克萨斯州埃尔帕索之间的入境口岸。
前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)用“国家安全关税”打击加拿大，尽管与加拿大的关系在他的领导下受到影响，但在拜登的领导下，两国关系似乎很容易反弹。特鲁多周二称赞了他们的伙伴关系，称“过去几年来，我们非常怀念美国的领导地位”，尤其是在气候变化方面。
加拿大总理贾斯廷·特鲁多感谢普雷斯。拜登“在应对气候变化方面迈出了如此大的步伐”。"过去几年，人们一直非常怀念美国的领导地位。"https://t.co/XAMmv3BMJypic.twitter.com/sAynNOEd1M
——ABC新闻(@ABC)2021年2月23日
布林肯将于周五再次会见特鲁多，以及他的外交部长马克·加诺和其他内阁部长。他还将会见学生和当地领导人，讨论气候变化和北极，并观看因纽特人的文化表演。
气候变化已成为两国政府之间的一个关键问题，气候变化特使约翰·克里(John Kerry)周三与加拿大举行了首次高级别峰会，承诺采取“雄心勃勃”的行动，并深化两国更快减少碳排放的承诺。
Secretary of State making his 1st 'trips' to Mexico and Canada -- virtually
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is making his first "trip" as the top U.S. diplomat, the State Department said, although he's not really going anywhere.
With the Biden administration'scoronavirustravel restrictions still in place, Blinken will hold meetings and attend cultural events with his Mexican andCanadian counterpartson Friday via video teleconference from Washington.
But the agency, keen to show that the new administration isactively workingwith U.S. allies, is launching a series of "virtual" trips with Blinken, where he will meet foreign leaders and local U.S. embassy staff, "visit" different cities and cultural sites, announce new policies or agreements and hold press conferences, just as he would on a real trip.
"We have designed this trip to resemble as close as we can a physical trip and we're doing the best we can to fulfill our diplomatic mission and to further our relationships with our close North American partners, given the reality in which we currently live," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday.
President Joe Biden heldvirtual meetingswith Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday in a similar fashion, with the White House calling it his first "bilateral meetings" even as the two sides communicated through video teleconferencing.
While virtual meetings have become the norm, diplomacy often works best when there are in-person discussions.
"There is far more difficulty in creating connections, establishing relationships and feeling empathy -- and, therefore, greater difficulty in achieving diplomatic goals,"according toNicholas Hawton and Shahrokh Shakerian, diplomatic advisers for the International Committee of the Red Cross. "The 'coffee corridor connection' is lost. The discussions and connections made in the informal spaces around traditional diplomatic locations simply cannot be replicated."
That presents a challenge particularly for U.S.-Mexican relations, with tensions over trade, energy, migration and countering narcotrafficking.
The Biden administrationhas startled to dismantleformer President Donald Trump's harsh immigration policies, including forcing asylum seekers to remain in Mexico, which had created tensions with left-wing populist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known by his initials as AMLO.
But there are still issues with AMLO's energy policy, which U.S. critics said undermines the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement free trade agreement -- the modernized North American Free Trade Agreement. A bill before Mexico's congress would give the state-owned utility priority in feeding the national grid, marginalizing renewable energy sector. That earned a warning from the Trump administration last month that Mexico must "live up to its USMCA obligations" or risk hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid, according to a letter from the Secretaries of State, Energy and Commerce obtained by ABC News.
It's unclear if the Biden administration shares those concerns. Acting assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Julie Chung said the issue will be discussed "in the medium term and the long term because there are many aspects that we're hearing from the private sector about their concerns -- but this is where we encourage Mexico to listen to the stakeholders, to listen to the private sector companies and really provide that culture, the atmosphere of free investment and transparency so that companies will continue to invest in Mexico."
Countering narcotraffickers and enhancing security will also be a top issue, especially afterMonday's arrestof Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of the notorious drug cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Last month, Mexican authorities dropped charges against former defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos, who had been arrested and charged with drug trafficking by the U.S. Despite an alleged promise to prosecute him at home, Cienfuegos was released, and Mexico's congress passed a law to limit foreign law enforcement operating in the country and strip their diplomatic immunity.
"We continue to have a very strong level of cooperation across all levels between the United States and Mexico," Chung told ABC News. "We're going to make sure we address those law enforcement issues together, and we're committed more than ever to utilizing every tool to address that."
During his "visit," Blinken will meet with Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard and Economy Secretary Tatiana Clouthier to discuss trade, migration, security and other issues.
He'll also see those migration issues "up close" by taking a virtual "tour" of Paso Del Norte, the port of entry between Ciudad Juarez in Mexico and El Paso, Texas, in the U.S.
While relations with Canada suffered under former President Donald Trump, who hit Canada with "national security tariffs," they seem to have easily rebounded under Biden. Trudeau praised their partnership on Tuesday, saying, "U.S. leadership has been sorely missed over the past years," in particular on climate change.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thanks Pres. Biden for "stepping up in such a big way on tackling climate change.""U.S. leadership has been sorely missed over the past years."https://t.co/XAMmv3BMJypic.twitter.com/sAynNOEd1M
— ABC News (@ABC)February 23, 2021
Blinken will meet again with Trudeau on Friday, along with his counterpart Foreign Minister Marc Garneau and other cabinet ministers. He'll also meet students and local leaders to discuss climate change and the Arctic, and see an Inuit cultural performance.
Climate change has emerged as a key issue between the two governments, with special envoy for climate change John Kerry holding his first high-level summit on Wednesday with Canada to commit to "ambitious" action and deepen both countries' commitments to reduce carbon emissions more quickly.
