U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the White House on Thursday for their first North American summit, the so-called Three Amigos summit, in five years.

The talks were aimed at finding common ground among the three neighbors bound together by the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) free trade agreement, which governs some $1.5 trillion a year in North American trade.

Biden met separately at the White House with the other two leaders, before a joint gathering by all the three. 

"We can meet all the challenges if we just take the time to speak with one another, by working together," Biden said, while Trudeau noted the three countries' "extremely strong ties." 

Lopez Obrador, in his bilateral meeting, hailed Biden's approach, saying "our relations must always be based on respect." 

But differences over the auto industry, Biden's "Buy American" policies and a Mexican energy bill weighed on the summit. The United States and Canada also appeared at an impasse over a Biden administration's proposal for tax credits on U.S.-made electric vehicles, which Ottawa says violates trade agreements. 

The leaders committed afterward to hold a follow-on summit next year in Mexico.