Among the questions President Claudia Sheinbaum fielded at her Wednesday morning press conference were ones on the anti-nepotism reform approved by the Senate on Tuesday and the proposed U.S. tariffs on Mexican exports that are scheduled to take effect next week.
Here is a recap of the president’s Feb. 26 mañanera.
Anti-nepotism reform approved, but it won’t take effect until 2030
A reporter noted that Congress approved Sheinbaum’s reform aimed at eliminating nepotism in government and the possibility of immediate reelection to all public offices. She asked the president her opinion about the reform not taking effect until 2030, as Congress determined.
Sheinbaum noted that the reform she sent to Congress stipulated that it should take effect in 2027, and declared that her position continued to be that it should enter into force in 2027.
“I understand that … in order to have [two-thirds] majority [support] from the parties that are part of the alliance [led by the ruling Morena party] … they agreed that it wouldn’t take effect until 2030,” she said.
“… It’s a decision for the senators and deputies,” Sheinbaum said.
“… What matters to Mexicans is that there isn’t nepotism in electoral processes,” she said.
“… It will go into the constitution, which is the most important thing, … not in 2027, in 2030, but in the end it will go into the constitution,” Sheinbaum said before noting that the reform still must be ratified by a majority of state legislatures.
“From 2030, there will no longer be reelection and there won’t be relatives who inherit positions,” she said.
“And he who does it in 2027 will look very bad, right? … We hope that, at least for the political party I come from, they don’t put any relative [up for election],” she said, referring to state and federal elections that will be held in 2027.
On the X social media platform on Tuesday, José Díaz Briseño, a Reforma newspaper correspondent in the United States, wrote that “Mexico’s ruling coalition passed a ban on nepotism” in government, but noted that it won’t take effect until 2030.
He added that “this allows” the brother of the governor of Zacatecas, the wife of the governor of San Luis Potosí and the father of the governor of Guerrero “to run for the office their relative currently holds.”
Morena is in power in Zacatecas and Guerrero, while the Ecological Green Party of Mexico, an ally of Morena, is in office in San Luis Potosí.
Another reporter put it to Sheinbaum that the Morena-led coalition “postponed the reform to carry out a final act of nepotism.”
She responded: “President López Obrador used to say that ‘politics is choosing between inconveniences.’ Sometimes it’s not about what you want but rather what can be done.”
Sheinbaum reiterates she will seek call with Trump, ‘if necessary’
Not for the first time this week, Sheinbaum said that “if necessary” she will seek to speak by telephone to United States President Donald Trump as Mexico seeks a new deal to stave off 25% tariffs on Mexican exports that are scheduled to take effect next Tuesday.
She noted that dialogue between the Mexican and U.S. governments is ongoing.
“The meetings intensified this week and we’re always going to seek to reach an agreement within the framework of respect for our sovereignty and constitution,” Sheinbaum said.
Trump said Wednesday that 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports would take effect April 2. However, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick indicated immediately afterwards that the tariffs were still due to take effect next Tuesday March 4 at the conclusion of a one-month suspension.
Reuters reported that a White House official “said Trump’s previous March 4 deadline for the 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods remained in effect ‘as of this moment,’ pending his review of Mexican and Canadian actions to secure their borders and halt the flow of migrants and the opioid fentanyl into the U.S.”
Reuters also said that Trump’s remarks “sowed confusion during his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday” and “prompted jumps in the value of the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso versus the greenback.”
Mexican security officials to meet with Marco Rubio on Thursday
Sheinbaum told reporters that members of the federal government’s security cabinet were traveling to Washington D.C. on Wednesday to meet with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday.
She said that Security Minister Omar García Harfuch, Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, Navy Minister Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles and Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente would meet with Rubio, who last week designated six Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
“They have a meeting tomorrow,” Sheinbaum said, adding that the Mexican officials would “seek to close a [security] cooperation agreement within the framework of our sovereignties.”
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
