Donald Trump’s victory in the United States presidential election on Tuesday is not a cause for concern for Mexicans in Mexico or the United States, President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday.
“To all Mexicans, there is no reason for concern. To our compatriots [in the U.S.], to their relatives here, to Mexican business people: there is no cause for concern,” Sheinbaum told reporters at her morning press conference.
Her reassurance came despite Trump’s pledge to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history” — an undertaking that could affect millions of undocumented, and documented, Mexicans in the United States — and his threats to impose tariffs on Mexican exports.
Sheinbaum said she would wait for vote counting to conclude in all U.S. states before issuing an official government statement on the results of the United States elections.
“It’s prudent to wait,” she said.
After seeking to reassure Mexicans about the impact of a second Trump presidency, Sheinbaum declared that Mexico “always moves forward.”
“We are a free, independent, sovereign country and there will be a good relationship with the United States. I’m sure about that,” she said.
Trump, the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, will be sworn in as the United States’ 47th president on Jan. 20 for a four-year term that will conclude in early 2029, the penultimate year of Sheinbaum’s six-year term.
His victory over Democratic Party candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris had a significant impact on the Mexican peso, which depreciated to 21.79 on Wednesday morning before strengthening slightly.
On Monday, Trump pledged to “immediately” impose a 25% tariff on all Mexican exports to the United States if the government of Mexico doesn’t stop what he called an “onslaught” of criminals and drugs to the U.S.
“We’re being invaded by Mexico,” he said at a rally in North Carolina, adding that he would inform Sheinbaum of his tariff plan on “day one or sooner.”
In an address in Detroit in October, Trump said that “upon taking office,” he would “formally notify Mexico and Canada” of his “intention to invoke the six-year renegotiation provisions of the USMCA.”
“… I’m going to have a lot of fun,” he said in reference to his plan to renegotiate the three-way trade pact he signed during his first presidency.
It remains to be seen what changes to the USMCA Trump will seek to make and what impact his proposed protectionist policies will have on the trade relationship with Mexico, the world’s biggest exporter to the United States.
Sheinbaum has stressed that the USMCA benefits Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, and asserted that the three countries “complement” each other rather than “compete” with each other.
With regard to Trump’s most recent tariff threat, Sheinbaum asserted Tuesday that there is a lack of information in the United States about “the effort Mexico has made to reduce migration” to its northern neighbor.
With reports from Reforma and El Universal
