Sheinbaum tiptoes on tariff talk: Wednesday’s mañanera recapped

After presentations from Mexican officials, including Energy Minister Luz Elena González Escobar and Pemex CEO Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to questions from reporters at her third press conference of the week.

She weighed in on “tariff talk” and also took the opportunity to wish a happy birthday to Mexico’s best-known septuagenarian.

Tit-for-tat tariffs? 

Sheinbaum was asked about Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard’s assertion that Mexico will impose retaliatory tariffs on imports from the United States if the incoming Trump administration slaps tariffs on Mexican exports.

She was nowhere near as definitive as Ebrard, but said that the government is looking at “what a tariff would mean for the United States economy.”

That analysis, Sheinbaum said, is being carried out by the Economy Ministry in conjunction with the Finance Ministry and is “very advanced.”

“These numbers are fundamental for the [USMCA] review … in 2026,” she said, adding that they would also be important to have at any other time that Mexico is negotiating with the United States or responding to a tariff threat.

Mexico, the world’s largest exporter to the United States, recorded a trade surplus of more than US $125 billion with its northern neighbor in the first nine months of 2024, but the U.S. does send a significant amount of exports here. Tariffs could therefore hurt producers in a range of U.S. sectors.

Happy birthday to ‘the foremost political leader of the 21st century’

Prompted by a reporter, Sheinbaum wished a happy birthday to her predecessor, former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who turned 71 on Wednesday.

“For us and the people of Mexico, president López Obrador is a man who dedicated his life to the transformation of our country,” she said.

“I said it when I took office: he is the foremost political leader of the 21st century, at least, and the leader who led the transformation of our country,” said Sheinbaum, a political protégé of the former president, also known as AMLO.

AMLO’s six-year term concluded just over six weeks ago, and he is now living as a private citizen on his ranch in the southern state of Chiapas.

Sheinbaum to move to National Palace soon 

The president said that she and her husband are still living in a private apartment but will move to the National Palace in the historic center of Mexico City “soon.”

“We’ll move before the end of the year,” she said.

Sheinbaum confirmed in September that she would follow in the footsteps of López Obrador and make her residence in the National Palace, the seat of executive power and venue of the president’s morning press conferences.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)