Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
- 📍USMCA tensions and Peru rapprochement: President Sheinbaum’s Wednesday press conference included a focus on Trump’s latest USMCA remarks, Economy Minister Ebrard’s response and signs of a possible diplomatic thaw with Peru.
- 🇲🇽 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 Ebrard downplays Trump’s USMCA remarks: Responding to Trump’s comment that he doesn’t “really want” to update the USMCA, Ebrard noted that USTR Jamieson Greer had recently been in Mexico and said the two governments are working “very closely” as they seek to settle differences over trade.
- 🥇 Mexico is the top U.S. customer: Ebrard highlighted that Mexico is the world’s largest importer of U.S. goods, saying “we’re the number 1 customer.”
- 📊 Ebrard: “As of today we’re doing well”: The economy minister acknowledged there are “warnings every week” regarding USMCA. Still, Mexico is “doing well” and waiting to see what happens in the coming months, Ebrard said.
- 🌐 Integrated economies: Later in the conference, Sheinbaum said the U.S. has been “setting a new vision” for trade since Trump’s return to office, but stressed that Mexico remains an “extremely important trade partner” and that the two economies “are very integrated because of the many years of free trade.”
- ☎️ Foreign Minister speaks with Fujimori: Sheinbaum said Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Velasco had spoken with Peru’s new president, Keiko Fujimori, following her Tuesday inauguration.
- 🛂 Sheinbaum requests safe passage for Chávez: Sheinbaum said her government wants former Peruvian Prime Minister Betssy Chávez — who has been at the Mexican Embassy in Lima since being granted asylum — to be given “safe passage” to come to Mexico, adding “we’re going to see how this develops.”
- 🇲🇽 🇵🇪 No rupture desired: Despite Mexico’s continued objection to the 2022 removal of former President Pedro Castillo, which Sheinbaum has previously called a “coup,” Sheinbaum said “we obviously don’t want a rupture of relations.”
Why today’s mañanera matters
Mexico’s bilateral relationships with the United States and Peru were among the most important topics discussed at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Wednesday morning press conference.
Mexico’s relationships with both countries are currently strained for different reasons.
On the Mexico-United States trade front, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday added his voice to the ongoing USMCA negotiations, and, unsurprisingly, it wasn’t to offer an endorsement of the three-way trade pact that superseded NAFTA during his first term as president.
Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard was on hand at today’s mañanera to offer a response to the latest remarks from Trump, who said in January that he didn’t “really care” about the USMCA and that the United States doesn’t need Mexican and Canadian products.
The similar remarks the U.S. president made on Tuesday came four weeks after U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced that the U.S. government hadn’t agreed “to renew the USMCA in its current form.”
Beyond Ebrard’s response to Trump’s latest USMCA comments, today’s mañanera was significant as Sheinbaum indicated that a rapprochement between Mexico and Peru might not be far off.
Peru broke diplomatic relations with Mexico last November, but the South American country now has a new president, providing the opportunity for a clean slate in the bilateral relationship, even though the Mexican and Peruvian governments sit on opposite sides of the political spectrum.
Ebrard responds to Trump’s latest USMCA remarks
A reporter asked Ebrard his opinion about Trump’s remarks on Tuesday about the USMCA.
During an interview with Fox News, Trump was asked whether he was looking to update the trilateral trade pact.
“I don’t care. I mean I don’t really want to. I’d rather be independent. Here’s the thing — Mexico and Canada need us. We don’t need them. The deal is important for them. It’s not important for us,” the U.S. president said.
Ebrard pointed out that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was recently in Mexico and declared that the Mexican government is working “very closely” with his team as they seek to settle differences over trade, including ones related to U.S. tariffs on Mexican products such as vehicles and steel, and to rules of origin for the North American automotive sector.
He noted that in “the overall table of countries, Mexico has the best [trade] deal” with the United States.
That was a reference to the tariffs the U.S. imposes on Mexican goods compared to its duties on products from other countries around the world. Ebrard said that Mexico’s tariff advantage “explains why our exports to the United States have grown.”
The economy minister also highlighted that Mexico is the world’s largest importer of U.S. goods.
“We’re the number 1 customer,” he said.
Ebrard subsequently appeared to downplay Trump’s remarks on Tuesday.
“Obviously there are warnings every week, there are a lot of things. We’re going to see what happens in the coming months but as of today we’re doing well,” he said.
Later in the press conference, Sheinbaum said that the United States has been “setting a new vision” for trade since Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025.
Despite increased protectionism from the U.S., the fact remains that Mexico “is an extremely important trade partner for the United States,” the president said.
“… Our economies are very integrated because of the many years of free trade,” Sheinbaum said.
Foreign Minister speaks to new president of Peru
Sheinbaum told reporters that Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Velasco had spoken to Keiko Fujimori, who was sworn in as president of Peru on Tuesday.
The call between Velasco and Fujimori came almost nine months after the government of Peru announced its decision to sever diplomatic relations with Mexico in light of a former Peruvian prime minister accused of rebellion being granted asylum at the Mexican Embassy in Lima.
On Wednesday morning, Sheinbaum said that her government wants “the person in our embassy” in Lima, former Prime Minister Betssy Chávez, to be given “safe passage” so that she can come to Mexico.
“We’re going to see how this develops,” she said.
Chávez served as prime minister under former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, who was removed from office by the Peruvian Congress in late 2022, angering then Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who put diplomatic relations with Peru “on hold” and issued a statement with other Latin American leaders expressing “profound concern” at the treatment of Castillo.
Sheinbaum said that Fujimori, whose deceased father was president of Peru from 1990 to 2000, “knows that we have a position related to President Castillo.”
Last September, she described the 2022 ousting of Castillo as a “coup.”
Sheinbaum said that “beyond” the Mexican government’s dissatisfaction with the treatment of Castillo, “we obviously don’t want a rupture of relations” with Peru.
“Within that framework we’re talking [with the Peruvian government] and we hope to be able to provide more news soon,” she said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
