President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about trade diversification and Mexico’s latest economic growth data at her Wednesday morning press conference.
On Mexico’s Día del Niño (Children’s Day), she also revealed the identities of two of her favorite fictional characters during her formative years growing up in Mexico City.
Mexico is in the process of diversifying its trade, says Sheinbaum
Sheinbaum asserted that modifications to the United States’ auto tariffs give Mexico “an additional comparative advantage,” but acknowledged that some Mexican products are now subject to U.S. duties they didn’t face before U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term in January.
“The thing [Trump decided] yesterday benefits us more than what we had the day before yesterday. It’s not the best, but within the international framework it’s good. And we’re going to keep talking and working [with the United States],” she said.
A reporter asked the president whether it was necessary for Mexico to “hurry up” and diversify its trade “toward” other parts of Latin America and Europe given Trump’s protectionist posture.
“We’re also working on that,” Sheinbaum responded.
She highlighted that Mexico has a “practically finished” trade agreement with the European Union and noted that top Brazilian officials will be visiting soon to look at “options for economic collaboration.”
Sheinbaum said that Mexico and Brazil — the largest economies in Latin America — will specifically look at how their economies can complement each other.
It’s not about “substituting products that are made in Mexico for those from Brazil, but rather what can we give them that they don’t make and what can they give us that we don’t make,” she said.
Sheinbaum said that Mexican and Brazilian officials will also speak about “how we can strengthen Brazil’s investment in Mexico and Mexico’s investment in Brazil.”
She recently held bilateral talks with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the CELAC Summit in Honduras.
On Wednesday, Sheinbaum told reporters that her government is “speaking with a lot of countries, including all the Asian countries.”
“There is good communication,” she said.
While Mexico would no doubt like to send more exports to Asia, it is actively attempting to reduce reliance on imports from Asian countries, especially China, as part of its Plan México initiative to boost domestic production and the Mexican economy.
Data underscores Mexico’s heavy reliance on trade with the United States, with around 80% of Mexico’s export revenue coming from goods shipped to its northern neighbor.
Q1 growth is ‘good news,’ says Sheinbaum
Sheinbaum noted that the Mexican economy grew 0.8% in the first quarter of the year (in annual non-seasonally adjusted terms).
“Everyone” said that “‘there was going to be a decline'” or that “‘we were going to go into recession'” [but] there is growth — 0.8%,” she said.
“Of course we want more [growth], but in the face of the circumstances of tariffs, the situation of uncertainty … [in] the global economy, … it’s good news,” Sheinbaum said.
Mexico’s GDP increased 0.2% on a quarter-over-quarter basis after a 0.6% sequential contraction in the final three months of last year.
Sheinbaum also highlighted that unemployment fell to a record low in March, and that inflation “practically” stayed the same in the first half of April.
“So, we’re doing well,” she said.
Mexico’s annual headline inflation rate ticked up to 3.96% in the first half of April, from 3.80% across March.
Kalimán and Princess Comet among Sheinbaum’s childhood heroes
A reporter asked the president who her favorite “character” was when she was a girl.
“As a girl, who was my favorite character? That’s a good question,” responded Sheinbaum, who was born in Mexico City in 1962.
“I listened to Kalimán a lot then, it was those times,” she said.
“Kalimán, El Hombre Increíble” (Kalimán, the Incredible Man) is a Mexican superhero adventurer who was the star of a radio drama that first aired in the 1960s.
Sheinbaum also mentioned Princess Comet, the protagonist of a Japanese cartoon series that was broadcast in the 1960s and ’70s.
“She was a magician, right? So with her magic wand, she changed what needed to be changed,” she said.
Sheinbaum isn’t known to carry a magic wand, but she does have two “batons of command,” which may or may not help her build what she calls “the second story” of the so-called “fourth transformation” of Mexico initiated by her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).
She received one from AMLO in 2023 and another from Olga Sánchez in 2024 on behalf of the women of Mexico.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
