President López Obrador announced that he will convene an “act of unity” in Tijuana on Saturday “in defense of the dignity of Mexico and to support friendship with the people of the United States.”
He told his morning press conference on Thursday that the event will celebrate the positive relationship between Mexico and the United States in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Mexican goods.
“We want a relationship of friendship with the people and government of the United States,” he said. “That’s our position, and to make it very clear that we want to maintain this friendship, we are going to have this event.”
López Obrador said he will announce retaliatory measures that his government will take if Trump follows through with his tariff threat.
“We’re going to state our position, which is going to take into account that we want to be a good neighbor to the United States, but at the same time we want to defend Mexico’s dignity,” he said. “We want to act with prudence, but also firmly defend our sovereignty.”
Mexican and U.S. negotiators resumed talks today over the imposition of a 5% tariff on all Mexican exports to the United States. If no deal is reached, the tariff will take effect on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Mexican government is preparing a list of U.S. products to hit with retaliatory tariffs, officials told Reuters on Wednesday. The products will be chosen to affect Trump’s electoral base. However, they specified that Mexico is not considering a tariff on corn, one of the main U.S. exports to Mexico.
President López Obrador has invited all the state governors to attend Saturday’s event in Tijuana, as well as state and federal legislators, judges, union leaders, religious leaders and business representatives.
The president also made it clear that although retaliatory measures are being prepared, he expects that negotiations will be successful.
“I hope an agreement is reached,” he said. “I am confident that there will be an agreement and that these unilateral measures won’t be applied next Monday.”
Source: El Financiero (sp), Excelsior (sp), La Jornada (sp)
