President Donald Trump congratulated Andrés Manuel López Obrador for winning the election to become president of Mexico on July 1. Trump shared a 30-minute phone call with Obrador, during which the two discussed trade, border security, and the possibility of a bilateral Mexico–U.S. trade deal.
“We had a lot of good conversation, I think the relationship will be a very good one. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “I think he’s going to try to help us with the border.”
Obrador, 64, former mayor of Mexico City, won by a landslide on July 1, dealing a crushing blow to establishment parties.
In his account of the call with Trump, he stated on Twitter that he had proposed a comprehensive deal to create jobs, lower immigration, and improve security.
While Trump’s foreign policy is directed by his “America First” motto, Obrador is very much a “Mexico First” kind of politician.
“I want a friendly relationship with the government of the United States, but not one of subordination. Mexico is a free country, it is a sovereign nation,” Obrador said. “We will not be subject to any foreign government.”
Just like Trump, he’s been skeptical of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the trade pact with the United States and Canada, saying it wasn’t a good enough deal for Mexico.
He wants to slash Mexico’s dependency on food and gasoline imports (major U.S. exports to Mexico) by fixing produce prices and reopening Mexican refineries.
He wants Trump to help pay for economic development in Mexico so Mexicans don’t leave to work in the United States.
“Our dream, which we’ll achieve regardless of whether Trump accepts or not, is that the Mexican can work and be happy where he was born,” he said during a campaign event in the southern border city of Tapachula.
Trump, on the other hand, wants Mexico to pay for the border wall.
Obrador also refused to help stem the tide of Central Americans traveling through Mexico to get into the United States, instead, asking for the…
