Diplomatic tensions, AMLO’s legacy for Sheinbaum

MEXICO CITY (EFE).— When he assumes the Presidency of Mexico next Tuesday, Claudia Sheinbaum will inherit the tensions of the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador con Ecuador, Spain y Peruand the effects of his international absenteeism.

In addition to facing a new challenge with the United States elections.

The first female president of Mexico will face in foreign policy “several fundamental challenges that demand immediate and strategic attention,” she warns EFE Jose Joel Penaprofessor of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

“First of all, it is crucial to reestablish diplomatic relations with international actors from whom the country has distanced itself, either due to the inertia of its own foreign policy or due to misunderstandings,” he explained.

“The most pressing cases are Ecuador, Peru and, of course, Spain,” considered the foreign policy expert.

The elected president clashed with Spain this week for not inviting the king, Felipe VI, to her investiture on October 1 because she did not respond to the letter that AMLOwho declared a “pause” in relations in 2022, sent the monarch in March 2019 to ask for forgiveness for the abuses committed during the conquest.

Another conflict is the lawsuit that Mexico presented last April against Ecuador before the International Court of Justice (CIJ) after the raid by the authorities on the Mexican Embassy in Quito to take away the former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas (2013-2017), which led to the breakdown of relationships.

While Peru and Mexico strained their relations because López Obrador considered the Peruvian president “spurious,” In Boluarteafter the departure of power from Pedro Castillo for a self-coup in December 2022.

This in turn cooled the Pacific Alliancecommercial block where they are also Chile y Colombia.

Elections in the US, defining

Claudia Sheinbaum will deal with whoever wins the November presidential elections in USAwhere the former president could return Donald Trump (2017-2021), with a more anti-immigrant discourse and threats to bomb drug traffickers in Mexico and impose tariffs.

“A new Trump administration would likely take a tougher approach, such as increasing deportations or threatening to reinstate family separations or slap new trade tariffs on Mexican goods. These measures could hinder trade, financial and investment flows,” a Moody’s report warned this week.

But the Democratic candidate, the vice president Kamala Harrishas a speech with an emphasis on greater border security and voted against the Treaty between the United States, Mexico and Canada (T-MEC), in force since 2020, he pointed out William Jensenassociate of Mexican Council of International Affairs (Comexi).

“There are big differences between Trump and Kamala, but the president of Mexico will face a United States with a more skeptical sentiment about migration and free trade than in previous years, which will be decisive for the 2026 review of the T-MEC. , the great economic engine of the country,” argued the expert.

López Obrador, who came to power in 2018 with the motto “the best foreign policy is the internal one,” only made seven tours abroad in six years of mandate: five to the United States, one to Chile and Colombia in South America, and another in Central America, where he visited Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize and Cuba.

Claudia Sheinbaum warned this month that she will continue with the policy of “not traveling much” of the current president and that she is still “considering” whether she will attend the summit of the G20 in Brazilwhich would be his first state visit abroad.

“In my case, the main task is to govern Mexico, we will go to some international events that we consider important, but we will not be traveling much because our responsibility is here,” said the future ruler in a press conference on September 17.

Professor Peña anticipated “continuity” in Claudia Sheinbaum’s foreign policy.

Although he considered that there is “a very important window of opportunity” to “increase the country’s participation in regional and international forums” because “Mexico’s greater presence would allow it to have a more influential voice in decision-making.”

When is Claudia Sheinbaum’s inauguration?

On October 1, the change of power will take place in the Chamber of Deputies, which will meet as a general Congress so that Claudia takes possession of the Presidency of the Republic. The ceremony will begin at 11 am.

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