The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, believes that Donald Trump is bluffing when he says he is going to build a wall on the border.
“He Needs Mexico,” the president, popularly known as AMLO, assured Sharyn Alfonsi, in a recent interview for the
CBS News news program
60 Minutes .
When speaking about his experience dealing with Trump when he was at the head of the US executive, from 2017 to 2021, the Mexican president assured that they both understand each other “very well.”
“We signed an economic and trade agreement that has been favorable for both people, for both nations.
He knows.
And President (Joe) Biden too,” AMLO told Alfonsi.
AMLO is in the final stretch of his six-year term, which ends on October 1, 2024. He had to manage relations with the United States during part of Trump and Biden's mandate.
As the primaries in the United States progress, everything points to a second confrontation between both politicians in the November elections.
Some polls show a tight voter preference for the Republican, which has led Mexican officials to address the question: What impact would a second Trump term have for Mexico?
The border wall debate
López Obrador says in the interview that he and Trump had an understanding "not to talk about the wall because they were not going to reach an agreement," but the Mexican president said that when they finally addressed the issue, he made it clear that a wall did not solve nothing on immigration matters.
“I told him: 'I'm going to send you, Mr. President, some videos of tunnels from Tijuana to San Diego, which pass right under the United States Customs House,'” AMLO commented.
He “got quiet and then he started laughing and said, 'I can't win with you.'”
Amid record numbers of encounters with migrants at the border, immigration is one of the top issues for American voters ahead of the presidential election.
While the Biden administration has faced constant scrutiny over its management of the border, Trump has maintained aggressive rhetoric, describing migrants as “scum” and saying they “poison the blood of the country.”
"They can say they are going to close the border, but we need each other," AMLO said of the Republican rhetoric.
[The Biden Government analyzes making asylum more difficult for immigrants to deport them more quickly]
"They couldn't buy cheap cars if the border was closed. I mean, you would have to pay $10,000, $15,000 more for a car. There are factories in Mexico and there are factories in the United States that are essential for all consumers in the United States and all the consumers of Mexico," added the president.
One of the largest elections in Mexico
The June 2 elections will be the largest in the country's history, according to the National Electoral Institute, the INE.
Some 98 million voters are expected to participate, who will elect the next president of the republic, 128 positions in the Senate and 500 positions in the Lower House.
The leaders so far are Claudia Sheinbaum, standard bearer of Morena, AMLO's party, and Xóchitl Gálvez, of the opposition coalition made up of the PRI, PAN and PRD parties.