Mexico’s new president makes Trump an offer
Harriet Alexander
Jo Tuckman
MEXICAN president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador said yesterday he had spoken with President Donald Trump on the phone and offered to reduce Us-bound migration in exchange for American assistance.
“I proposed exploring a universal deal (involving) development projects that would create jobs in Mexico and, by doing so, reduce migration and improve security,” tweeted the fiery Leftist. “The tone was respectful and our teams will be holding talks.”
Jeremy Corbyn was among political leaders to offer their congratulations to Mr López Obrador, who on Sunday night won in the largest landslide in his country’s recent history.
The pair are long-term friends; when the veteran Mexican Left-winger lost the election to Felipe Calderon by less than a percentage point in 2006, and accused the government of electoral fraud, Mr Corbyn declared him the legitimate president.
The pair spent part of their 2016 Christmas holiday together in Mexico, and in September Mr López Obrador toured the House of Commons with the Labour leader.
Promising to combat corruption and drive down record crime rates, Mr López Obrador captured 53 per cent of the vote, according to preliminary results – a historic victory for the party he created.
Voters decided in their millions to turn their backs on the two parties which have ruled Mexico for almost 100 years, and finally give him a chance – sending his supporters into a frenzy.
Mr Trump was quick to congratulate the 64-year-old, who has charted a careful course of not antagonising his northern neighbour, but vowing to put Mexico first.
“I look very much forward to working with him,” said Mr Trump. “There is much to be done that will benefit both the United States and Mexico.”
Today Mr López Obrador will meet President Enrique Peña Nieto to begin the handover process, ahead of his Dec 1 inauguration.
Top of the agenda will be free trade negotiations and reassessing the deal to build a new Mexico City airport. He said he would seek to stay in a version of the North American Free Trade Agreement that was good for Mexico.
His platform includes promises to sell the presidential jet, slash his own salary by half, and turn the presidential palace into a cultural centre.
He has campaigned with the pledge of doubling pensions for retirees, increasing scholarships for students, and boosting production and employment in the impoverished south.
How he will pay for this remains unclear – his team speak vaguely of corruption reductions freeing up millions of dollars.
And he has been remarkably unspecific in his plan for dealing with Mr Trump, Nafta and the surging violence – only talking about rooting out the causes of organised crime, such as poverty and a lack of opportunities among the young, and floating a plan for an amnesty for cartel members.
Nevertheless, his message has resonated in a country exhausted by endless corruption scandals and a failure to reduce the incessant violence.
“Millions and millions are fed up with this regime of corruption and privilege, and decided to vote for a real change,” he said. “I’m going to do it."