An unlikely focus on “respect” dominates US - Mexico discourse, in contrast with others
President Claudia Sheinbaum at a press conference this week. Image credit: Eyepix Group / Alamy.
by David Agren.
US President Donald Trump hit Canada and Mexico with 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum this week. Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs. Doug Ford, the Ontario premier-turned-nationalist folk hero, responded by imposing a surcharge on electricity sent to three neighbouring US states.
Trump predictably struck back, promising 50-per-cent tariffs on Canadian steel only to reverse course after Ford suspended the electricity surcharge.
Mexico never retaliated against the steel and aluminum tariffs. President Sheinbaum said Tuesday that Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard would address the issue later in the week. She cut short a question on whether Mexico, like Canada, would get slapped with similar 50-per-cent tariffs, saying tersely: “No, we’re respectful.”
Respect is a word often spoken by Sheinbaum as she deals with Trump’s tariff threats and talk of U.S. intervention in Mexico.
It follows the example of her predecessor and mentor, former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who often insisted that Trump treated Mexico with “respect” – even as Trump denigrated Mexico and Mexicans, and forced deals on AMLO such as deploying the National Guard to the northern and southern borders in 2019 to stop migration and avoid escalating tariffs.
Sheinbaum won a reprieve from tariffs – now delayed for USMCA-compliant exports until April 2 – after a “respectful” call with Trump early this month. She planned to announce Mexico’s response at a mass rally in the Zócalo on March 9, but recast the event a “celebration” and proceed to speak of “respect” – saying the word nine times in her address to thousands of partisans filling the iconic square.
“In the relationship with the United States, with its government, dialogue and respect prevailed,” she said in one example. “Fortunately, dialogue and, above all, respect between nations has prevailed,” she said in another.
“There are probably some people who aren't interested in a good relationship between our people and governments, but I’m sure that with information and respectful dialogue, we can always achieve a respectful relationship. That’s been the case so far,” she said, taking a routine shot at the opposition.
Mexico’s posture of “respect” contrasts with Canada’s combativeness. “Elbows up,” a hockey aphorism for Canadian toughness and assuming a self-protective posture, has emerged as a Canadian battle cry. The Reforma newspaper ran a front-page headline comparing Mexico and Canada after the surcharge spat, seemingly lending support to the president’s posture of respect: “Canada challenges... And Trump makes it fold.”
Doug Ford has attracted much of the attention turned toward Canada. It’s not unexpected for an outspoken populist politician, larger-than-life presence and premiere of the country’s largest province. He’s also emerging in a political vacuum as the country changes prime ministers – with a sober technocrat in former central bank governor Mark Carney replacing Justin Trudeau, who Trump belittled as governor.
Colourful comments on Fox News – the opposite of Sheinbaum’s “cool head” refrain – have sent him trending on social media.
“I was supporting Trump right up to this election. And then, all of a sudden, he turned the guns on his closest friend and ally. It was so disappointing. He let us down,” Ford said in a widely shared clip.
Ford ultimately backed down from the surcharge on the promise of a Thursday meeting with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Ford emerged afterward saying the temperature had dropped on trade.
But Lutnick jawboned Canada and Europe in the prelude to the Thursday meeting with a series of interviews in which he raised Sheinbaum’s favourite word: respect.
“Europe and Canada do not respect Donald Trump and do not respect America's ability to build its steel and aluminum industry, which is vital for national security, whereas you watch Mexico and you watch the UK be pragmatic and thoughtful, and the way we're going to deal with them is going to be better.”
He told Bloomberg: “The British didn’t respond, the Mexicans didn’t respond — you have some countries that actually thoughtfully examine how they do business with us,”
Sheinbaum receives enormous credit for handling Trump and fanfare in the international press. Her “respect” strategy seems to be working, though attention seems to focus more on an ability to charm Trump or becoming a Trump whisperer.”
Another more prosaic explanation might be that Sheinbaum is responding – not with retaliatory tariffs, as Lutnick criticized Canada for – but with actions on security and migration, including 29 cartel bosses being sent to the United States.
Those actions are being noticed.
“We have seen a response from the Mexican government that has never happened in the past, that has never happened before,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with Fox News.
Ronald Johnson, the ex-green beret nominated as US ambassador to Mexico, also had some complimentary words for Sheinbaum at his nomination hearing. But he also said in response to a question on US intervention, “I think all cards are on the table.”
Sheinbaum responded to Johnson at her Friday morning press conference with a familiar refrain: “respect.”
“We disagree. Everything is not on the table, not even the chair,” she said. “We will coordinate with a framework of respect.”
Respect dominates Sheinbaum’s discourse. Action on Trump’s demands is drawing his administration’s attention. Markets are betting the latter will spare Mexico from tariffs
“It is still our view that tariffs will not be implemented on Mexican imports, given how cooperative the Mexican government has been on security and immigration,” Barclays said in a March 12 note. The peso dropped below 20 to the dollar on Friday.
Trump said his respect for Sheinbaum prompted him to pause tariffs earlier this month. Sheinbaum is betting on that happening again – but she’s complying with his demands, too.