AMLO ‘satisfied’ with Mexico’s treatment in US presidential debate

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had no complaints about Tuesday night’s debate between US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

“I was very happy that Kamala and President Trump – both of them – treated Mexico with respect,” López Obrador told reporters during his press conference on Wednesday morning.

“We respect other peoples and other governments and they should respect us as an independent, free and sovereign country,” he added.

Tuesday night’s debate was the first and perhaps only debate between Vice President Harris, the Democratic nominee, and former President Trump, who is running for the third consecutive presidential election as the Republican nominee.

The November 5 presidential election is now only 55 days away.

Mexico was not a dominant theme in the debate, but both candidates did make some comments about the country with which the United States shares a 1,950-mile (3,145-kilometer) border.

López Obrador, who recently severed ties with the U.S. Embassy in Mexico after Ambassador Ken Salazar raised concerns about reforming the federal government’s judiciary, told reporters he watched part of the ABC debate on CNN en Español.

“I watched for an hour. I don’t speak English, I don’t understand that very important language. I watched on a Spanish-language channel, I think. … I didn’t feel like there was any intention to insult Mexico,” said AMLO, who enjoyed a cordial relationship with Trump when he was president and welcomed Vice President Harris to the National Palace in Mexico City in 2021.

“… I listened to the first part, the part about the cats, the pets, but it talked about migrants in general, not specifically about those from Mexico,” he said.

“I think Mexico was only mentioned once in the (first) hour, when President Trump talked about cars, cars that are made in Mexico and sold there, but that are of Chinese origin,” López Obrador said.

“Both showed tact and I am grateful to them for not offending us,” he said.

What comments did Harris and Trump make about Mexico?

Border security

The number of illegal border crossings between Mexico and the United States reached record highs during the administration of US President Joe Biden.

However, the numbers have dropped significantly since Biden issued an executive order in early June banning migrants from seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, at a time when the number of people crossing through legal border crossings is increasing.

Kamala Harris:

“The United States Congress, including some of the most conservative members of the United States Senate, came up with a border security bill that I supported. And that bill would have put 1,500 additional border agents on the border. … It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl coming into the United States.”

“…That law would have freed up more resources to allow us to prosecute transnational criminal organizations for gun trafficking, drug trafficking, human trafficking. But you know what happened to that law? Donald Trump picked up the phone, called a few people in Congress, and said, get rid of it. And you know why? Because he wanted to go after a problem rather than solve a problem.”

Donald Trump:

“(The Biden-Harris administration) allowed criminals (into the United States). Many, many, millions of criminals. They allowed terrorists. They allowed ordinary street criminals. They allowed people to come into our country, drug dealers, and they’re in the United States now.”

“… I think they probably did it because they thought they would get votes. But it’s not worth it. Because they’re destroying the fabric of our country with what they’ve done. Nothing like this has ever been done. They’ve destroyed the fabric of our country. Millions of people have been let in. And crime is down all over the world. All over the world, except here. Crime here is sky high.”

Chinese car factories in Mexico

Chinese automakers including BYD and Chery have announced plans to open production facilities in Mexico.

JAC, however, is the only Chinese automaker currently making cars in Mexico. The Hidalgo plant “builds low-cost vehicles from kits” for sale in Mexico, the Associated Press reported in July.

Donald Trump:

“They’ve lost 10,000 manufacturing jobs in the last month. They’re going to – they’re all leaving. They’re building these huge auto factories in Mexico. In many cases, they’re owned by China. They’re building these huge factories and they think they’re going to sell their cars to the United States because of these people.”

“What they’ve given China is unbelievable. … We’re going to put tariffs on those cars so they can’t come into our country. Because they’re going to kill the United Auto Workers and all the auto workers, whether it’s in Detroit, South Carolina or anywhere else.”

Mexico News Daily