Mexico remained cautious in its statement on the decision of US President Joe Biden to withdraw from the electoral contest November in the United States, its main trading partner and with which it will have to work whether the Democrats or Republican Donald Trump win.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has often boasted of his good relationship with his “friend” Trump, the candidate who has strongly attacked Mexico, said on Monday that “it is a sovereign decision that corresponds to the authorities, leaders of the United States” and praised both Biden’s economic management and that of his Republican predecessor.
“We consider him a good leader, he has had very good results, the economy in the United States is doing well,” he said.
Relations between the two countries have been marked in recent years by disagreements on trade, the fight against cartels, energy and climate change, but the Mexican government has chosen to collaborate with both Trump and Biden in containing migration, so the United States does not apply much pressure on other issues.
López Obrador added that Biden was able to deal with the difficulties arising from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, something that “should be seen as a continuation of what was achieved during the time of former President Donald Trump, when the North American trade agreement, the T-MEC, was signed again.
Mexican diplomat Martha Bárcena, ambassador to Washington for the López Obrador government from 2018 to 2021, ruled out any continuity between Trump and Biden but understood the Mexican president’s caution. “He adheres to the principle of non-intervention,” she said when asked by AP.
He also recalled a reality: “The Mexican government will work and cooperate with whoever wins the elections.”
The former ambassador predicted that caution will also prevail in the words of future president Claudia Sheinbaum because both she and the former foreign minister and future head of the Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, “made a serious mistake” by responding to statements by Donald Trump without verifying who they were referring to.
The Republican, who has promised mass deportations, closed the border and continues to call migrants criminals behind an “invasion,” mocked how he got what he wanted from Mexico when he was president by threatening to impose tariffs if it didn’t stop migration. Over the weekend, he hurled insults that some thought were aimed at Ebrard and others at Biden.
Despite the lack of clarity, Sheinbaum condemned on her X account “the foul language of former President Trump” and asked not to forget that Mexico “is free and sovereign.”
“Now they have to be more cautious,” said former ambassador Bárcena.
In his view, Biden made the decision of “a dignified and honorable man, a politician who understood the circumstances and made the right decision at a decisive moment for the United States.”
Jorge Castañeda, Mexican foreign minister from 2000 to 2003, agreed with her on the positive side of Biden’s departure. “He was leading the Democratic Party into a debacle,” he wrote in a column in the newspaper El Universal on Monday.
On the other hand, the former ambassador found the possible candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democrats to the White House interesting, despite the fact that her performance has not been very successful or highly valued. “The possibility of the coincidence of female presidents in Mexico and the United States would mark the beginning of a new era in bilateral relations and would be very positive,” she said.
In Latin America, one of the few leaders who spoke out about Biden’s departure was Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro, who praised the dialogue he had maintained with him despite “our differences.” He said that he made a “sensible and correct” decision because “to be president you have to be in iron health.”
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