Support for Mexico’s President Soars as She Jockeys With Trump Over Tariffs

On March 6, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum held a meeting with nearly 40 representatives of Mexico’s national bourgeoisie to discuss her government’s plans in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats. Sheinbaum would later confess that the meeting was set up to share what her government was planning on doing should her phone call with Trump not result in a deal to suspend U.S. tariffs on Mexican exports. The meeting was the clearest sign that Mexico was unsure if there would be a positive outcome from the phone call with Trump.

Ultimately, the meeting was unnecessary, as Sheinbaum managed to get Trump to suspend the imposition of tariffs for another month. Francisco Cervantes Díaz, president of Mexico’s Business Coordinating Council, came out of the gathering expressing strong support for the Mexican president, saying he would close ranks and make common cause with her in light of the external threat posed by Trump’s tariffs.

A Massive Display of Public Support for Sheinbaum in Mexico City

On March 9, Sheinbaum called on the Mexican people to show their support. An estimated 350,000 people responded to Sheinbaum’s call for national unity. The public mobilization in Mexico City, which was billed as an opportunity for the president to share her plans in response to the imposition of tariffs, also turned into a demonstration and “festival” in defense of Mexican sovereignty.

The atmosphere at Sunday’s demonstration was certainly festive. Mexicans from throughout the country descended on the capital’s historic center, marching, waving the Mexican flag, cheering, playing music and dancing.

“We are here to support our president and of course the whole country,” Anaí Pérez Arellanes, artistic director of a folkloric Indigenous dance troupe from Pochutla, Oaxaca, told Truthout.

Pérez’s group, accompanied by a live band, entertained onlookers in front of the Palace of Fine Arts as the crowd jostled against each other, squeezing into the little space they could find on the street as the crowds attempted to make their way into Mexico City’s Zócalo square.

Pérez said the presence of this group of young Indigenous performers was more than just symbolic, it was a political statement about Mexico’s roots.

“In order to defend our sovereignty, we must first defend our identity,” said the artistic director.

The need and willingness to defend Mexico’s sovereignty was the overwhelming message delivered by demonstrators. Inside Mexico, Trump’s tariffs threats are seen as a hostile act by an unpredictable president against a population that has long-standing suspicions and grievances toward its northern neighbor.

“This is a message to the world. Our president wants to send the message that Mexico is not anyone’s backyard and that we are workers, but we also know how to defend our homeland. That’s why we are here, for a self-sufficient Mexico,” Miguel Ramírez Domínguez, a retired worker from the militant Mexican Electricians Union, told Truthout.

While Mexico has not been the only country to draw unwanted attention from the U.S. president — Trump has famously talked about seizing Greenland and has likewise threatened to turn Canada into the 51st U.S. state — his threats have largely served to unite people in Mexico, from the ruling class to the working class.

Sheinbaum, who took office in October after winning the presidential election in a landslide, was already enjoying high approval ratings before Trump came into power in January. The U.S. president’s decision to threaten his neighbor then pushed her approval ratings to historical levels, with one recent poll putting her support at 85 percent.

While Sheinbaum has skillfully navigated negotiations, these have come at a cost, with migrants paying much of the price.

The Mexican president’s handling of Trump stands in stark contrast to Canada’s Justin Trudeau, who ultimately opted to step down as prime minister in the face of Trump’s seemingly endless attacks on Canada. The recent Liberal Party leadership election that saw Mark Carney elected to replace Trudeau was viewed as a referendum on who would be best positioned to take on the U.S. president. In the midst of this transition period, Canadian leaders have responded to Trump’s newly enacted tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum with their own plan to impose tariffs on $20.7 billion worth of U.S. goods in retaliation, sparking concerns of an escalating trade war between the two countries.

Sheinbaum’s decision to take a “cool-headed” approach, as she calls it, has proven successful. Her negotiating has led to two temporary suspensions of tariffs on Mexican exports to the U.S. and a potential long-term reprieve, given that Trump has said that come April 2, he will impose reciprocal tariffs only, with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that Trump signed during his first term making the vast majority of trade between the two countries free of tariffs.

Argentine sociologist Marco Teruggi, who has covered politics throughout Latin America as a journalist, praised the Mexican president’s negotiating strategy, noting how she stays firm while knowing she has cards in her hand and sometimes choosing to play them. In her negotiations with Trump, Sheinbaum has highlighted the advantages that economic cooperation with Mexico has for the U.S. while also ensuring that Trump knows that the U.S. needs Mexico if it wants to address issues such as the fentanyl crisis. But while Sheinbaum has skillfully navigated negotiations, these have come at a cost, with migrants paying much of the price.

Moreover, Teruggi warns that despite Sheinbaum’s negotiation wins thus far, the U.S. president is unlikely to desist in his attacks, comparing him to a “sheriff who negotiates with the gun on the table.”

The Price of Sheinbaum’s Success as a Negotiator

President Sheinbaum’s success in managing her country’s relations with an unpredictable counterpart is due in large part to her emphasis on human rights and a humanitarian approach. Sheinbaum’s bargaining, however, has certainly not come without concessions. She was able to get her first reprieve on tariffs only after promising to deploy an additional 10,000 Mexican troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. The mobilization of soldiers comes as Mexico has clamped down on migrants crossing through Mexican territory at the behest of Washington, which has demanded strict enforcement by Mexican authorities in order to reduce the arrival of migrants to the border.

This policy puts asylum seekers at even greater risk, given that many are effectively stranded inside Mexico since, as Amnesty International put it in a recent report, “There is currently no way to seek international protection at the US-Mexico border.”

According to Amnesty International, migrants travelling through Mexico do not have migratory documents issued to them, exposing them to violence by both state and nonstate actors. Migrants frequently comment that Mexico is the most difficult part of the journey.

“We would rather go through the Darién jungle five times than through Mexico,” one migrant told Amnesty International.

Mexico has been bussing migrants away from the U.S. border to southern regions, leaving many stranded and essentially forcing migrants to start from zero as part of its deterrence policies. This program, which officials have said is aimed at easing overcrowding in border states, is the clearest example of the gap between Mexico’s humanitarian rhetoric and enforcement actions against migrants.

Mexico’s Pushback Against Neoliberal Economics Gives It More Leverage

Many heads of state seem stunned and uncertain in the face of Trump’s tariffs and dramatic shifts in economic policy. Teruggi, the Argentine political analyst, said countries like Canada and many of those in the European Union appear “disoriented” in the face of Trump’s actions, given that in his estimation, Trump’s actions represent the end of neoliberal trade policy and a disruption of the previous consensus regarding the international division of labor.

“They were economies that had been structured on the basis of neoliberal globalization, and Trump is working under the logic of an isolationist retreat,” Teruggi told Truthout.

The European Union, like Canada, has also opted to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.

Mexico is perhaps less disoriented by Trump’s actions because it had already started to implement policy that represented a shift away from the neoliberal consensus back in 2018 with the election of leftist leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In essence, Mexico has a head start on other countries that only now are reckoning with the fact that the U.S. — the country that was once the biggest advocate for neoliberal globalization — has now seemingly abandoned that position.

The new political economy of Mexico is also informing the response by Sheinbaum. During her speech in the Zócalo, Sheinbaum outlined the broad measures her government is undertaking given the present political climate and the specific steps she will carry out, tariffs or no tariffs. These measures include strengthening the internal market by continuing to raise the minimum wage, promoting public investment and job creation, boosting food and energy self-sufficiency, supporting the continued development of the internal market through investments in national production, and expanding welfare programs for the Mexican people.

“We want Mexico to continue to spend on education, health care, housing and the countryside. The country is starting to move forward; we want this country to move forward, so that more people can exit poverty,” Irene Soto Velazquez, a housing rights activist, told Truthout.

Terrugi argues that this approach, which is diametrically opposed to the call by some politicians and pundits in the Global North to cut social spending and instead double down on military spending, also serves to inoculate Mexico from the rise of the far right as has been seen in other places.

The countries of Latin America “must have a sovereign economic policy — the solution will never be handing the country over as Javier Milei proposes to do in Argentina,” said Terrugi.

Sunday’s demonstration in the Zócalo was the third time that Sheinbaum has rallied the public for a mass gathering during her relatively short time in office, the earliest rally coming on her first day in office and the second to commemorate 100 days in power. However, Sunday’s rally stood apart from the others in the sense that it was less partisan but more political, with a call to action by the president to unite across party lines in defense of national sovereignty. Figures not normally seen as part of the coalition led by MORENA (Sheinbaum’s political party) also participated, including opposition politicians and other figures, such as the aforementioned representatives of Mexico’s national bourgeoisie.

Nonetheless, it was the working class that was best represented, with grassroots activists, trade unionists and ordinary Mexicans making their presence felt. At several moments during her speech, the crowd spontaneously broke out with chants telling Sheinbaum, “You are not alone!”

“This is a people that is used to fighting, that is accustomed to claiming their rights, their sovereignty, their national interests […] and the people of our country have reached a degree of politicization that make them more aware of how important it is to defend our sovereignty in the face of these international powers,” David Pérez Nava, academic coordinator of MORENA’s political education institute, told Truthout.

Pérez Nava argues Sheinbaum is empowered by her high approval ratings and the public expressions of support, and that she has emerged stronger as a result and in a better position to negotiate with Trump.

New challenges lie ahead, however, as Mexico reckons with the need to diversify its trading partners. But Sheinbaum’s focus on self-sufficiency, social welfare and national production marks a decisive shift from neoliberal policies, giving Mexico more tools with which to manage an erratic neighbor and defend its sovereignty.