President Claudia Sheinbaum canceled her Thursday morning press conference due to Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, but she returned to the Treasury Hall of the National Palace to address reporters on Friday morning.
The organization of the upcoming judicial elections, recent raids on stores selling Chinese goods and the proposed appointment of a former governor to a high-ranking diplomatic position in the United States were among the issues she spoke about.
Sheinbaum urges the INE to explain how it will use its judicial election funding, and why it wants more
The lower house of Congress this week voted in favor of reducing the 2025 budget of the National Electoral Institute (INE) from just over 40 billion pesos to 27 billion pesos. The electoral authority will have 7 billion pesos to spend on the organization of next year’s judicial elections, almost 50% less than it requested.
Sheinbaum emphasized that 7 billion pesos (US $347.5 million) is a lot of money, highlighting that’s how much it cost to build the first two elevated cable car (cablebús) lines in Mexico City.
“Seven billion pesos is a lot more than what over half of the states receive … annually [from the federal government],” the president added.
Still, Sheinbaum said, the INE “wants more.”
“They’re talking about at least 2 billion pesos more. I believe it’s important to tell the people of Mexico what [the money] will be used for because I think: What could it be used for?” she said.
“For the ballot boxes? How much can a ballot box cost?” Sheinbaum asked.
“… The majority of the officials at the polling places are volunteers, just like in the elections,” she added.
The president acknowledged that there are some significant costs associated with organizing large elections such as those that will be held on June 1, 2025. But she insinuated that 7 billion pesos will be more than enough.
“The question is, how are they going to use these 7 billion pesos that the Chamber of Deputies allocated to them? Let it be public, open. Let the people of Mexico know,” Sheinbaum said.
“And if they need more resources, [say] why they need more resources? It’s not just a matter of saying, ‘I need 10 billion pesos,’ but rather [saying] why you need 10 billion pesos,” she said.
“… That’s the request — for the INE to be transparent,” Sheinbaum said.
Seizure of counterfeit Chinese goods not aimed at pleasing Trump, Sheinbaum says
A reporter noted that authorities seized more than 1 million illegally imported and counterfeit Chinese products in Hermosillo, Sonora, on Thursday.
The raids on stores in the state capital came two weeks after authorities raided a Chinese goods plaza in the historic center of Mexico City, seizing more than 200,000 counterfeit products.
The reporter asked Sheinbaum whether the confiscation of Chinese goods had “any relation” to her discussions with United States President-elect Donald Trump during a telephone call on Dec. 27 — one day before the Mexico City raid.
“No, it has no relation,” the president bluntly replied.
“The Economy Ministry is doing these actions with some of the states,” Sheinbaum said.
“… Contraband, or the illegal entry of products, can be controlled in several ways,” she added.
“One way is through customs,” Sheinbaum said, explaining that the government is “developing different actions with the goal of reducing the entry of illegal products” and ensuring all applicable taxes are paid on imported goods.
The other is by carrying out operations targeting “different places” where counterfeit and illegally imported goods are sold, she said.
Trump launched a trade war against China during his first term as president, and has accused Mexico of being a transshipment hub for Chinese goods.
In October he pledged to “seek strong new protections against transshipment” in an updated USMCA trade deal “so that China and other countries cannot smuggle their products and auto parts into the United States tax free through Mexico to the detriment of our workers and our supply chains.”
“They smuggle this stuff in. They don’t pay anything. We’re going to have very strong language on that,” Trump said.
Mexico is seeking to reduce its reliance on goods from China and other Asian countries via the development of an import substitution plan.
Former governor capable of supporting Mexicans living in Miami, president assures reporters
Toward the end of her press conference, Sheinbaum was asked about her decision to nominate former Chiapas governor Rutilio Escandón as Mexico’s consul in Miami, Florida.
“If special circumstances arise, he has the capacity to support all our brothers and sisters in Miami,” she said of Escandón, who concluded his six-year term as governor last Saturday.
Sheinbaum was referring to Trump’s plan to deport immigrants from the United States on a mass scale. She said last week that Mexico will be prepared to welcome large numbers of deportees if need be.
Trump, Time magazine’s “person of the year,” told Time that in executing his deportation plan he will “go up to the maximum level of what the law allows.”
“And I think in many cases, the sheriffs and law enforcement is going to need help. We’ll also get National Guard. We’ll get National Guard, and we’ll go as far as I’m allowed to go, according to the laws of our country,” he said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
