President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had no complaints about Tuesday night’s debate between United States presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
“I was very pleased that Kamala and president Trump – both of them – treated Mexico with respect,” López Obrador told reporters at his Wednesday morning press conference.
“We respect other peoples, other governments and they should respect us an independent, free and sovereign country,” he added.
Tuesday night’s debate was the first, and perhaps only, debate between Vice President Harris, candidate for the Democratic Party, and former president Trump, who is contesting his third successive presidential election as the nominee for the Republican Party.
The Nov. 5 presidential election is now just 55 days away.
Mexico wasn’t a dominant issue in the debate, but both candidates did make some remarks related to the country with which the United States shares a 3,145-kilometer-long border.
López Obrador — who recently paused relations with the U.S. Embassy in Mexico after Ambassador Ken Salazar raised concerns about the federal government’s judicial reform — told reporters that he watched part of the ABC debate on CNN en Español.
“I watched an hour. I don’t speak English, I don’t understand that very important language. I was watching on a hispanic channel I think. … I didn’t feel there was the intention to offend Mexico,” said AMLO, who maintained a cordial relationship with Trump while he was president and welcomed Vice President Harris to the National Palace in Mexico City in 2021.
“… I listened to the first part, the thing about the cats, the pets, but migrants were spoken about in general, not [those] from Mexico in particular,” he said.
“I think that Mexico was spoken about just once in the [first] hour, when president Trump spoke about cars, automobiles made in Mexico and sold there, but they’re of Chinese origin,” López Obrador said.
“Both showed tact, and I thank them a lot for not offending us,” he said.
What Mexico-related comments did Harris and Trump make?
Border security
Illegal crossings of the Mexico-United States border reached record highs during the administration of U.S. Joe Biden.
However, numbers have declined significantly since Biden issued an executive order in early June that prevents migrants from making asylum claims at the Mexico-U.S. border at times when crossings between legal ports of entry surge.
Kamala Harris:
“The United States Congress, including some of the most conservative members of the United States Senate, came up with a border security bill which I supported. And that bill would have put 1,500 more border agents on the border. … It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl coming into the United States.”
“… That bill would have put more resources to allow us to prosecute transnational criminal organizations for trafficking in guns, drugs and human beings. But you know what happened to that bill? Donald Trump got on the phone, called up some folks in Congress, and said kill the bill. And you know why? Because he preferred to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”
Donald Trump:
“[The Biden-Harris administration] allowed criminals [into the United States]. Many, many, millions of criminals. They allowed terrorists. They allowed common street criminals. They allowed people to come in, drug dealers, to come into our country, and they’re now in the United States.”
“… I think they probably did it because they think they’re going to get votes. But it’s not worth it. Because they’re destroying the fabric of our country by what they’ve done. There’s never been anything done like this at all. They’ve destroyed the fabric of our country. Millions of people let in. And all over the world crime is down. All over the world except here. Crime here is up and through the roof.”
Chinese-owned auto plants in Mexico
Chinese automakers including BYD and Chery have announced plans to open manufacturing plants in Mexico.
However, JAC is the only Chinese automaker currently making cars in Mexico. Its plant in Hidalgo “builds inexpensive vehicles from kits” for sale in Mexico, the Associated Press reported in July.
Donald Trump:
“They lost 10,000 manufacturing jobs this last month. It’s going – they’re all leaving. They’re building big auto plants in Mexico. In many cases owned by China. They’re building these massive plants, and they think they’re going to sell their cars into the United States because of these people.”
“What they have given to China is unbelievable. … We’ll put tariffs on those cars so they can’t come into our country. Because they will kill the United Auto Workers and any auto worker, whether it’s in Detroit or South Carolina or any other place.”
Mexico News Daily
