MEXICO CITY — President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s visit with President Trump in Washington this week will no doubt embarrass many Mexicans and outrage many Americans. The meeting, intended to bolster Mr. Trump’s campaign, is an opportunity for Mr. López Obrador to return a favor.

When, in April, Mexico balked at reducing its oil output, endangering a global agreement to shrink oil production, Mr. Trump stepped in and promised that the United States would pick up the slack for its southern neighbor with its own cuts. “They’ll reimburse us, sometime at a later date, when they’re prepared to do so,” Mr. Trump said of Mexico. Mr. López Obrador is doing just that by breaking his custom of never leaving Mexico.

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Enrique Krauze (@EnriqueKrauze) is a historian, the editor of the literary magazine Letras Libres, and the author of “Redeemers: Ideas and Power in Latin America.” This article was translated by Erin Goodman from the Spanish.