New president seeks ‘understanding’ with US
Fresh off a landslide victory, Mexico’s newly elected leftist president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged yesterday to ‘‘reach an understanding’’ with 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 that ‘‘I think the relationship will be a very good one’’.
In an interview with the Televisa news network, Lopez Obrador did not provide specifics on what an ‘‘understanding’’ with the Trump administration might look like, except to emphasis 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 3000km, 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.’’
Meanwhile, members of the business and political elite who fiercely opposed Lopez 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, Lopez 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 Jose Antonio Meade acknowledged Lopez Obrador’s win even before official results were announced, in a break from past elections. Lopez 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.
Lopez 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 Lopez Obrador for years vowed to work with him and said fighting graft is an area where they see eyeto-eye.