President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday had her first phone call with United States President-elect Donald Trump, to congratulated him on his victory over Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election.
In a Wednesday post on the social platform X, Sheinbaum said she was open to dialogue and asked Trump for respect for Mexico’s sovereignty. She also expressed confidence that the two neighboring countries would work together “to advance the broad bilateral agenda that links us.”
Then she spoke to President-elect Trump by telephone on Thursday morning, describing the conversation as “very cordial.”
On Wednesday, Sheinbaum addressed concerns that relations with the United States might be difficult under a second Trump administration.
“There will be good relations with the United States. I’m convinced of that,” she told listeners at her morning press conference.
Reflecting those concerns, the peso dropped to a two-year low in overnight trading, but trimmed its losses on Wednesday as the markets digested Trump’s win.
Mexico surpassed China as the top U.S. trade partner last year, as the value of goods imported by the United States from Mexico rose nearly 5% from 2022 to 2023, to more than $475 billion, according to the Associated Press.
Demonstrating the importance of the bilateral relationship, Sheinbaum on Wednesday also met with Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock Inc, and Adebayo Ogunblesi, director of BlackRock’s private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners, at the National Palace in Mexico City.
Sheinbaum topics of discussion included Mexico’s economic advantages and the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, the president said in a post on X.
According to La Jornada, Sheinbaum emphasized that Mexico’s economic indicators are solid since a shift in policies under her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a new economic model that she is following. She also said Fink agreed that the peso is strong and now is a “good moment for Mexico.”
However, Trump’s campaign promises have left Mexico bracing for punishing tariffs and mass migrant deportations, according to the newspaper The Guardian. The U.S. president-elect has even suggested he would call for U.S. military strikes on organized crime groups in Mexican territory, an idea that former President López Obrador categorically rejected.
As recently as Monday, Trump pledged to immediately impose a tariff of 25% or more on all Mexican exports to the United States if Sheinbaum’s government doesn’t stop what he called an “onslaught” of criminals and drugs to the United States.
Wednesday’s decision to recognize Trump’s victory was a bit of a surprise after Sheinbaum had said earlier in the week that she would wait until all the votes were counted. However, after Harris conceded, Sheinbaum decided to congratulate the U.S. president-elect.
Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, famously delayed congratulating Joe Biden after he defeated then-President Trump in November 2020, waiting more than a month until the U.S. Electoral College had confirmed the result.
With reports from La Jornada, El Economista, The Guardian and Reuters
