Mexico’s victor seeks dialogue with Trump
Leaders discuss border security, trade, among other issues, during half-hour phone conversation
Fresh off a landslide victory, Mexico’s newly elected leftist president Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged Monday to “reach an understanding” with Donald Trump amid uncertain times for two countries that must seek consensus on everything from contentious trade talks to cooperation 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 that “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 cooperation between the two neighbors.
“We are conscious of the need to maintain good relations with the United States. We have a border of more than 3,000 kilometers, 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 cooperation with the United States.”
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 percent 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 Jose 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-to-eye.
“We have a lot in common as well as profound differences,” said Gustavo de Hoyos, president of the Mexican Employer’s Confederation, Coparmex. He added the private sector would defend recent initiatives, such as an energy reform bill that opened the sector to private investors under President Enrique Peña Nieto, “that have benefited competitiveness.”
López Obrador previously vowed to throw the energy reform out but now says contracts merely will be reviewed for any illegalities. While his allies are forecast to likely dominate both houses of congress, he may not enjoy the two-thirds majority needed for outright reversal.
Mexico’s main stock index and the peso were both down Monday, but analysts at Banco Base attributed the currency’s drop to broader global movement in favor of the U.S. dollar and speculation about U.S. interest rates. Investors have long been expecting a victory by López Obrador, who held doubledigit leads in polls for months.
Prominent intellectual Enrique Krauze, who famously labeled López Obrador a “tropical messiah” during his first presidential run in 2006, said via Twitter that he wishes “for his government to become an emblem of ethics for the world.”
The next president is unlike most of his predecessors in many ways: Devoutly religious, he is a career activist instead of a lawyer, military officer or businessman, and the first president in a century to speak in a marked regional accent, from his native Tabasco state in Mexico’s tropical lowlands.