Sheinbaum confronts Trump: A bold warning amidst growing U.S.-Mexico tensions

Until now, Claudia Sheinbaum, President of Mexico, has steered clear of any public confrontations with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. She concluded, as reported by El País, "We will withdraw from this dialogue in front of the media."

In an interview with NBC, the tycoon said that the United States “is subsidizing Mexico with 300 billion dollars” and that, if things continue like this, the southern neighbor should be annexed as another state of his country.

According to Excelsior, the Mexican president stated that “Mexico is a free, sovereign and independent country,” so the Republican’s statements hardly make any sense.

Sheinbaum also wanted to emphasize the importance of the trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada. “The only way to compete with other regions of the world, therefore, is to maintain and strengthen the trade agreement, the T-MEC, because rather than seeing ourselves as competition, we must see ourselves as a complement,” she said, according to El Universal.

According to El País, the president also wanted to downplay the remarks of the next president of the United States: “He has a way of communicating.” She also wanted to show that she did not plead with the tycoon for his intentions to impose tariffs on Mexico. Trump said that the president had asked him “Why are you doing this to me?”

The public clashes between Trump and Sheinbaum have lasted for about two weeks. The president has sent letters and messages on social media to respond to the threats that Trump made to Mexico from the United States.

The main threat was to punish its most important trading partner with 25% tariffs if Mexico does not crack down on the migration crisis and fentanyl trafficking. According to Trump, thousands of people are crossing into the US from Mexico and Canada, bringing crime and drugs at levels never seen before.

Following her statement that any tariff hike would be met with a reciprocal increase from Mexico, potentially sparking a trade war, Sheinbaum engaged in a telephone discussion with Trump. Nevertheless, the accounts of the conversation provided by each leader diverged.

While Trump claimed that Sheinbaum has agreed to stop migration through Mexico and into the United States, effectively closing our southern border, the president said that what she did was reinforce Mexico's position, which is to “not close borders but build bridges between governments and people.”

This time, Sheinbaum did not want to sustain the controversy as she did not see any benefit for herself or her country. Ildefonso Guajardo, former Secretary of Economy, told El País: “There are basic elements of the new president’s personality that must be taken into account: not getting hooked, not responding to tweets but to actions and having very clear objectives.”

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