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Saturday, February 15, 2025

Bravo! Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum is standing up to Donald J. Trump challenging Trumpziism

Leave it to a woman to get the job done.
Echo opinion published in the Boston Globe by Marcia Garcia:

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is proving to be a master strategist in the face of relentless pressure from Donald Trump. Foreign policy analysts and political observers have praised her pragmatic, calculated approach to dealing with his demands, turning potential crises into opportunities to assert Mexico’s sovereignty while maintaining diplomatic stability.

It has been barely a month since Trump took office, yet Sheinbaum is already being credited with “writing the playbook for handling him,” as the Wall Street Journal put it. Her approach is drawing attention beyond Mexico’s borders: Advisors to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are reportedly studying her composed response as a model for their own leader, whose instinct is often to meet aggression with aggression.

Sheinbaum notably secured a one-month delay on Trump’s threatened 25 percent tariffs on Mexican goods, an outcome that was widely seen as a diplomatic victory. In a tense, high-stakes phone call with Trump, Sheinbaum — a 62-year-old scientist and former Mexico City mayor — apparently refused to be rattled. 

Instead, she coolly negotiated the delay, offering to deploy an additional 10,000 military officers to the Mexican border, a minimal concession and calculated move to deescalate tensions while maintaining Mexico’s leverage.

But how long can this balancing act last? Trump’s erratic and transactional approach to foreign policy means that today’s diplomatic win could quickly turn into tomorrow’s crisis. While Sheinbaum has so far managed to defuse tensions, history suggests that Trump thrives on chaos and unpredictability.


For one, Trump’s favorite sport is moving the goal posts. He’s always demanding more, escalating threats, and punishing perceived weakness. If he decides that Mexico’s concessions aren’t enough, or if he sees political advantage in reigniting hostilities, Sheinbaum may find that pragmatism alone won’t be enough to keep him at bay.

Sheinbaum’s approach stands in stark contrast to that of other leaders like Canada’s Justin Trudeau and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, who have reacted to Trump with defiant and combative — even grandstanding, some might say — stances. 

Trudeau initially responded to Trump’s announcement of 25 percent tariffs to Canada with retaliatory tariffs targeting American exports from red states, like oranges from Florida. (Trump and Trudeau agreed on a pause on tariffs after Sheinbaum and Trump did.)

And last month, when Petro refused to allow United States military planes carrying deported Colombian migrants to land, Trump threatened to impose steep tariffs and other sanctions on Colombia, which ultimately led Petro to back down.

Sheinbaum, who likes to say to keep a “cool head” when dealing with Trump, hasn’t been a pushover, either. In early January, when Trump first floated the idea of renaming the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, the Mexican president delivered a master class in diplomatic trolling. Standing in front of a world map in a press briefing, she ironically suggested that North America should instead be renamed “América Mexicana,” or Mexican America, citing an obscure 1814 document referencing the name. “It sounds nice, doesn’t it?” she said smiling.

It’s not just the punditry class endorsing Sheinbaum’s handling of Trump. Between 75 and 80 percent of Mexicans approve of their president’s performance so far, a striking level of support that signals that her measured approach to Trump is resonating at home.

It remains to be seen whether Sheinbaum’s strategy is sustainable; the March 4, deadline on the pause on tariffs is fast approaching. Andrew Seele, president of the Migration Policy Institute and an expert on US-Mexico relations, said in an interview that Sheinbaum’s strategy will work “as long as [the Trump administration] doesn’t start deporting Mexicans who are well established in the United States.”


But he believes Mexico has leverage. “The US really needs Mexico’s cooperation. And Trump likes big symbolic gifts. So she could grab a cartel leader sooner or later and hand his head on a platter,” Seele said.

Perhaps a showdown between Sheinbaum and Trump may be inevitable. But, the good news for Sheinbaum is that, for Trump, for all his chaos and unpredictability, one thing is for sure: Everything is a negotiation. 

And in a negotiation, just like in poker, it’s not just about playing the hand you’re dealt, but knowing when to call a bluff.

This is an excerpt from ¡Mira!, a Globe Opinion newsletter

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