Sheinbaum vows to defend sovereignty in defiant speech to 400,000 supporters

President Claudia Sheinbaum marked the completion of her first year in office with a major speech on Sunday in Mexico City’s central square, where she was joined by a huge crowd of supporters and a large group of federal and state officials.

“We meet again in this magnificent Zócalo, heart of the republic,” she said at the start of a 55-minute address after she was given a glowing introduction by Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada.

“Here, where history beats, we gather to commemorate together one year of the people’s government, because I do not walk alone, I do not govern alone,” Sheinbaum told a crowd of more than 400,000 people.

“Ours is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people of Mexico,” she said.

Four days after celebrating the first anniversary of her presidency, and standing on a stage whose back wall was emblazoned with the message “the transformation advances,” Sheinbaum defended the legacy of her predecessor and outlined various government achievements, many of which she previously highlighted in her first government report speech on Sept. 1.

Here are seven takeaways from her address on Sunday, for which the National Palace served as a grandiose backdrop.

Sheinbaum remains staunchly loyal to the man who helped her reach Mexico’s highest political post

Very early in her address, Sheinbaum spoke about her predecessor and political mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who has virtually disappeared from public life since leaving the presidency a year ago, but who nevertheless remains a central figure in Mexican politics, in part because he set much of the president’s agenda via legislative proposals he submitted to Congress last year.

The president described AMLO as an “honest man” who is “deeply committed” to the Mexican people, and asserted that he played a significant role in putting Mexico on “a path of social justice” and “dignity,” on which “social rights, freedom, democracy, and sovereignty” are guaranteed.

“They have tried to divide us, to make us split,” she said, referring to opposition politicians and government critics.

“Their objective is nothing more than to put an end to the transformation movement … but that won’t happen because … [AMLO and I] share values — honesty, justice and love for the people of Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.

“… We share a project — Mexican humanism,” she said, adding that her government came to office to “continue transforming the nation for the well-being of the people.”

“Andrés Manuel López Obrador is and always will be an example of honesty, austerity and profound love for the people of Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.

She highlighted, as she has done on numerous occasions, that more than 13 million people were lifted out of poverty during AMLO’s six-year term as president.

Sheinbaum is publicly confident that the USMCA review will go well 

Sheinbaum declared that she is “certain” that her government will reach “good” agreements on trade with the United States and “all the nations of the world.”

Canada and Mexico agree to deepen ties ahead of USMCA trade deal review

Mexico, the United States and Canada will conduct a review of their trade pact, the USMCA, in 2026.

United States President Donald Trump, who has undermined the trilateral pact by imposing tariffs on a range of Mexican and Canadian goods, has indicated that he wants to renegotiate the USMCA, rather than just review it.

In a move widely interpreted as an effort to appease the U.S. and thus smooth the way toward a favorable USMCA review outcome, Sheinbaum last month submitted a proposal to Congress that seeks to impose higher tariffs on imports from China and other countries with which Mexico doesn’t have trade agreements.

Sheinbaum wants Mexico to become a ‘country of innovation’

Sheinbaum said that in the coming weeks, her government will present a prototype of the Olinia electric vehicle, which is slated to be built en masse in Mexico in the years ahead.

She also said that her administration will soon provide updates on its National Semiconductor Design Center, as well as projects to build satellites and an unmanned aerial vehicle “produced 100% in Mexico.”

“This is part of an ambitious project that we will present in the coming weeks that we call, ‘Mexico, country of innovation,’ which includes the development of the National Artificial Intelligence Laboratory,” Sheinbaum said.

Sheinbaum has full faith in Mexico’s renewed judiciary 

Sheinbaum said that “19 constitutional reforms and 40 new laws” were approved in the last 13 months, a period that includes the final month of López Obrador’s presidency.

The first of the “most important” legislative changes she mentioned was the controversial judicial reform, which AMLO promulgated two weeks before he left office, and which enabled Mexico’s first-ever judicial elections to be held earlier this year.

“We had free elections for Supreme Court justices, magistrates and judges,” Sheinbaum said without mentioning the low turnout of 13%.

“I take this opportunity to greet the new Supreme Court justices. The era of nepotism, corruption, and privilege in the judiciary has ended, and a new era of legality and justice for all begins. A true rule of law. It is something very profound,” she said.

Sheinbaum names the Gulf of Mexico Train

At the 36-minute mark of her speech, Sheinbaum, while outlining the government’s various infrastructure projects, put the following question to the masses of people gathered in the Zócalo: Who agrees that the train from Mexico City to Nuevo Laredo should be called the “Gulf of Mexico Train”?

After a show of hands, the president declared that a majority of people agreed with the proposal.

Sheinbaum beamed after she mentioned the proposed name of the passenger train that will run along the railroad that will connect the capital to the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo, as its slated moniker is a clear poke at the U.S. president.

Sheinbaum has effectively dismissed as a gimmick Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. On Sunday, she appealed to people’s patriotism when deciding to hold a snap poll on the proposed name of the train, and underscored that on this side of the border, the Gulf of Mexico will continue to be called the Gulf of Mexico, no matter what the U.S. president says or does.

Sheinbaum is determined to show that Mexico is not at the behest of the US

Sheinbaum highlighted that the Mexican Constitution has been amended to read that, “the people of Mexico, under no circumstance, will accept interventions, interferences or any other act from abroad that is detrimental to their safety, independence and sovereignty.”

The president, a tireless defender of Mexican sovereignty, also assured those in attendance at the Zócalo that her government’s security policy “is decided sovereignly in Mexico” and that it only answers to “the people of Mexico” no matter how intense the pressure is from elsewhere.

Although she didn’t explicitly mention the United States or Trump while making the aforesaid remarks, Sheinbaum’s message was clear: Mexico acts in its own interests and takes its own decisions no matter how much pressure is being exerted from Washington.

Whether that is entirely true is highly debatable, but the president is determined to at least generate a public perception that that is the case.

Those who believe that the Sheinbaum administration is yielding to U.S. pressure to a significant extent can point to things such as the deployment of 10,000 troops to the northern border region to stave off a tariff threat, the transfer of 55 cartel figures to the United States and the plan to increase tariffs on imports from China.

Sheinbaum is pleased with her first year in office 

Early in her speech, Sheinbaum ran through a range of data that she asserted was proof that Mexico is doing well economically.

She highlighted that the economy is expected to grow 1.2% this year, unemployment is low, foreign direct investment reached a record high in the first half of 2025 and the USD:MXN exchange rate “remains below 19.”

Toward the end of her address, Sheinbaum said she was “certain” that Mexico is on “the right path.”

She also reaffirmed her government’s commitment to “the Fourth Transformation of Public Life in Mexico,” a political project that AMLO initiated when he took office in late 2018.

The transformation “belongs to the people,” Sheinbaum said.

“… I’m not going to fail you,” she added.

“My commitment is to the people, and continues to be to give my soul, my life, and the best of myself for the well-being of the people of Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.

“My commitment is to defend the homeland. My commitment to you is to be a president who rises to the generosity and greatness of our history and the people of Mexico.”

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])