Once again, she\u2019s adopted a wait-and-see strategy. When President Donald Trump announced steep tariffs on all cars shipped to the United States this week \u2013 a significant escalation in a global trade war \u2013 his Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum chose pragmatism and patience. <\/p>\n
Playing the long game is the same strategy President Sheinbaum has used since the beginning of the new American administration, one that has so far saved Mexico from steep tariffs. <\/p>\n
In 2024, Mexico exported to the United States automobiles and auto parts worth $182.3 billion, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Given those figures, the new auto tariffs announced could pose catastrophic consequences for the Mexican economy \u2013 but Sheinbaum chose to keep a cool head. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have to wait and see what President Trump says, and from there, we\u2019ll have to decide, one way or another, what decisions we\u2019d make. We\u2019ve been through this three times; this would be the third,\u201d Sheinbaum calmly said Wednesday during her daily morning media briefing. <\/p>\n
The day after Trump\u2019s inauguration, Sheinbaum said it was \u201cimportant to keep a cool head\u201d when she was asked to react to the American president\u2019s first executive orders. Those orders included renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and declaring multiple Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations \u2013 an act that could pave the way to using American military force on Mexican soil. <\/p>\n
Sheinbaum used the same strategy last month, when Trump was about to announce tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., impacting her country, among others. Speaking to reporters at her daily morning briefing, she repeated what had already become her mantra for the Trump administration: \u201cAs I said before, [we have to keep a] cool head on this,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Unlike top Canadian officials, Sheinbaum has so far avoided getting into a war of words with her American counterpart. Sheinbaum \u2013 a 62-year-old climate scientist and former Mexico City mayor who became the first female president of Mexico in October \u2013 has remained pragmatic and calm \u2013 at least publicly \u2013 to Trump\u2019s goading. For Oscar Ocampo, an analyst at the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness in Mexico City, this is a winning strategy. <\/p>\n
Regarding the latest threat of 25 percent tariffs to automobiles and auto parts, Sheinbaum has said she will offer a \u201ccomprehensive response\u201d on April 3, but signaled that her government is working behind the scenes to remove or reduce fees on certain Mexican-assembled autos and parts. <\/p>\n
Her team is also putting in the miles. Mexican Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard traveled to Washington once again this week to meet with top US officials regarding the tariffs. By his own count, Ebrard has met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick six times. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe made progress toward the goal of not charging manufacturers multiple tariffs \u2014 a piston crosses the border seven times when assembled \u2014 that was already agreed upon by both governments,\u201d Ebrard said during a press briefing earlier this week. <\/p>\n
Praise for Sheinbaum\u2019s deft management of a tense situation goes beyond her own country; even Trump has recognized her negotiating chops, telling her \u201cYou\u2019re tough,\u201d in a phone call last month, according to a recent New York Times report. This is quite a departure for a leader who constantly rails against other heads of states and political enemies. <\/p>\n
Publicly, Trump has also been complimentary. \u201cOur relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl,\u201d Trump wrote earlier this month on Truth Social. \u201cThank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!\u201d <\/p>\n
It remains to be seen whether Sheinbaum\u2019s strategy will ultimately succeed, but her presidency and the country depend on it. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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