Mexico’s next president pledges to ‘reach understanding’ with U.S.
MEXICO CITY — Fresh off a landslide victory, Mexico’s newly elected leftist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, pledged Monday to “reach an understanding” with U.S. President Donald Trump amid uncertain times for two countries that must seek consensus on everything from contentious trade talks to co-operation on security and migration.
During a half-hour telephone conversation, Trump said the two leaders discussed topics including border security, trade and the North American Free Trade Agreement, adding: “I think the relationship will be a very good one.”
In an interview with the Televisa news network, López Obrador did not provide specifics on what an “understanding” with the Trump administration might look like, except to emphasize the need for mutual respect and co-operation between the two neighbours.
“We are conscious of the need to maintain good relations with the United States. We have a border of more than 3,000 kilometres, more than 12 million Mexicans live in the United States. It is our main economic-commercial partner,” he said.
“We are not going to fight. We are always going to seek for there to be an agreement. … We are going to extend our frank hand to seek a relation of friendship, I repeat, of co-operation with the United States.”
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he hopes to work closely with López Obrador to “build on the vibrant partnership between our two countries.”
Meanwhile, members of the business and political elite who fiercely opposed López Obrador’s populist candidacy pledged to support his presidency in a loyal opposition, and the largely orderly vote in which his rivals conceded defeat gracefully — and quickly — was hailed as a win for democracy in the country.
With nearly three-quarters of the ballots counted, López Obrador had about 53 per cent of the vote — the most for any presidential candidate since 1982, a time when the Institutional Revolutionary Party was in its 71-year domination of Mexican politics and ruling party victories were a given.
Rivals Ricardo Anaya and José Antonio Meade acknowledged López Obrador’s win even before official results were announced, in a break from past elections. López Obrador himself refused to accept his two previous presidential losses, and in 2006 his supporters set up a protest camp that caused months of chaos in downtown Mexico City.
López Obrador, who rode a wave of popular anger over government corruption to become the first self-described leftist elected to the Mexican presidency in four decades, has pointedly sought to reassure his respect for the constitution, private property and individual rights, vowing there will be no expropriations even as he pushes to “eradicate” endemic corruption.
He announced a team of advisers that includes prominent businessman Alfonso Romo — a friend of telecom magnate Carlos Slim, one of the world’s wealthiest people — and widely respected politician Tatiana Clouthier, formerly a member of Anaya’s conservative party, apparently seeking to signal that nobody should fear his promise of “profound change.”
Business leaders who have openly warred with López Obrador for years vowed to work with him and said fighting graft is an area where they see eye-toeye.
López Obrador said he will propose that his own experts be included in ongoing NAFTA talks with the U.S. and Canada, but will respect Mexico’s current negotiating team as they continue to represent Mexico until he takes office Dec. 1. He has expressed skepticism about NAFTA, but now says he supports reaching a deal.
OTTAWA — The future of the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations was injected with a new dose of uncertainty with the election of a new president in Mexico on Sunday.
Following his overwhelming majority win, Mexico’s presidentelect Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he supports reaching a deal on renegotiating NAFTA with the United States and Canada.
But the NAFTA talks have been stalled for several weeks and López Obrador enters the scene as tensions between Canada and the United States have intensified as the two countries have become embroiled in a trade dispute.
After the election, López Obrador said he’ll propose that his own team of experts be included in the trade talks. The winning candidate said he will make that proposal in a meeting Tuesday with current President Enrique Peña Nieto.
López Obrador told the Televisa network on Monday that he will respect the current team of negotiators, and let them continue representing Mexico until he takes office Dec. 1, noting that he wants to have information on what’s being discussed and “to help as much as we can.”
Trudeau has said he plans to stay in touch with the outgoing Mexican president, but hopes to work closely with the country’s new president to “build on the vibrant partnership between our two countries.”
But with Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, Canada’s retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. and a leftist, anti-establishment Mexican president about to join the fray, there are some who believe any North American Free Trade Agreement talks may be in longterm limbo.
On Monday, a day after Canada’s counter-tariffs came into effect, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said escalating the tariffs “does nothing to help Canada and only hurts American workers.”
“We’ve been very nice to Canada for many years and they’ve taken advantage of that,” Sanders said during her daily press briefing in Washington.
“The president is working to trying to fix the broken system and he’s going to continue pushing for that.”
The Trump administration has accused Canada of being a national-security threat when it slapped tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum in June. Canada has retaliated with $16.6 billion in counter-tariffs and the U.S. midterm elections are in the fall. These are all factors that point to a stalemate, said Moshe Lander, an economist at Concordia University.
“I don’t see how [Trudeau] is going to get this done,” he said.
“I don’t see how he’s going to be able to find an agreement that’s going to be acceptable to, now, a left-wing populist, a rightwing populist and our country who is claiming hurt feelings as a basis for negotiations. I think NAFTA is dormant for the next six to 12 months.”
Trudeau had been working closely with Peña Nieto on NAFTA and spoke with him about the deal just ahead of the elections on Friday.
During this conversation, they “reaffirmed the close friendship” and agreed to continue working toward a mutually beneficial outcome on the trade agreement, a read out of the conversation from the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Now, Trudeau is reaching out to the new president in the hopes of maintaining a united approach with Mexico when talks do resume with the United States.
“Canada and Mexico are close friends and longtime partners. We share common goals, strong people-to-people ties, and a mutually beneficial trading relationship that is the envy of the world — reflected in our joint effort to update the North American Free Trade Agreement for the 21st century,” Trudeau said in a statement congratulating López Obrador on his win.
Trudeau later spoke with López Obrador on Monday, wherein they discussed their mutual trade interests and their “shared priority of updating the North American Free Trade Agreement for the betterment of their peoples,” said a readout of the conversation issued on Monday.
Donald Trump also congratulated López Obrador on his electoral win, however, the U.S. president also said in an interview this weekend he intends to hold off on signing a new NAFTA deal until after America’s fall midterm elections.