A tragedy in Mexico City. The assassination of Charlie Kirk. The plan to impose new tariffs on imports from China.
President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about those issues, among others, at her Thursday morning press conference.
Here is a recap of the president’s Sept. 11 mañanera.
Sheinbaum comments on CDMX tragedy
At the start of her press conference, Sheinbaum made brief remarks about the explosion of a gas tanker in Mexico City that had claimed eight lives as of Thursday afternoon.
She said that her administration has been working closely with the government of Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada in the wake of the “terrible event.”
“We are providing all the support that is needed. Our solidarity to all those families who have lost someone. Whatever is needed, we will be very attentive,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum condemns assassination of Charlie Kirk
Sheinbaum also lamented the murder of conservative U.S. political activist and Donald Trump ally Charlie Kirk, who was shot while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
“We’re completely against any violence and particularly political violence,” she said.
“Therefore, our condemnation … of acts of this kind,” Sheinbaum said.
Mexico is no stranger to political violence. The 2024 electoral season was the most violent in modern Mexican history with more than 30 candidates and political aspirants murdered and scores of other killings related in one way or another to the June 2 elections.
In 1994, presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio was murdered in Tijuana while on the campaign trail.
Will China retaliate against Mexico’s proposed tariffs?
A reporter asked the president whether her government expects foreign countries, such as China, to retaliate against the new tariffs it is planning to impose on their exports to Mexico.
On Tuesday, Sheinbaum sent a bill to Congress that seeks approval to impose tariffs of 10% to 50% on a wide range of imports from countries with which Mexico doesn’t have trade agreements.
On Thursday morning, she said that officials from her government were speaking with the ambassadors of such countries, which include China, South Korea, India and Thailand.
“We don’t want any conflict with any country,” Sheinbaum said.
“So we’re speaking with them, with the ambassador of China in Mexico, from whom I recently had the opportunity to receive his letter of credence, with South Korea,” she said.
“We’re explaining to them that it is a measure that has to do with the strengthening of our economy and Plan México,” Sheinbaum said, referring to the government’s ambitious industrial policy.
“What we want is to speak, without the need to cause any conflict,” she said.
The South China Morning Post reported on Thursday that China had “condemned Mexico’s plan to sharply raise import tariffs on automobiles and other goods from countries with which Mexico does not have trade agreements, calling the measures discriminatory and saying they were the result of outside pressure.”
Sheinbaum: Tariffs not aimed at putting Mexico in a better position ahead of USMCA review
A reporter asked the president whether the imposition of tariffs on countries with which Mexico doesn’t have trade agreements could “improve” Mexico’s position in trade negotiations with the United States. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the free trade pact that replaced NAFTA in 2020, is scheduled to be reviewed in 2026.
Sheinbaum said that her proposed tariffs are not aimed at improving Mexico’s negotiating position in talks with its North American trade partners.
She highlighted that she was speaking about Plan México, import substitution and the “strengthening of national industry” before U.S. President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
The plan to impose new tariffs is part of a “national project” and not related to the “the negotiations with the United States,” she asserted.
Sheinbaum rehearses ‘El Grito’
Sheinbaum told reporters that she had rehearsed her delivery of “El Grito,” a reenactment of Miguel Hidalgo’s original “Cry of Dolores,” which marked the start of the Mexican War of Independence in 1810.
“We rehearsed yesterday because it’s a very important act,” she said of “El Grito,” which Mexico’s sitting president delivers from a National Palace balcony on the night of Sept. 15 as a huge crowd listens and watches on from the Zócalo, Mexico City’s central square.
“First of all, it’s a commemoration that has been carried out in Mexico for many years, and secondly we celebrate independence,” Sheinbaum said.
“So, one has to assume [the duty] responsibly, well me, as president,” she said.
“… That’s why we rehearsed and concentrated on this act that is so important, so emotional and so fundamental,” Sheinbaum said.
