The presidential candidate of Fuerza y Corazón por México, Xóchitl Gálvez, promised this Monday, May 20, not to “bend down without putting up a fight” before the United States, if he becomes president and assured that he will seek to collaborate with the private sector to solve infrastructure failures and energy necessary so that nearshoring is not “pure dream”.
He stressed that the priority in foreign policy is to reconnect with the world after the “isolationism” of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's six-year term.
“Claudia (Sheinbaum) says that submission to the US is over, but it is not true. Donald Trump threatened us with tariffs. AND Mexico agreed to receive migrants of other nationalitiess, without anything in return,” he said in an interview with EFE, at the Palacio de la Minería.
Gálvez, a businesswoman, regretted that “Mexico did nothing, it bowed down without putting up a fight” and pointed out that it should have demanded the regularization in the United States of millions of Mexicans who have worked there for years and have all the elements to be Americans.
“In foreign policy we are failed. The Government of Mexico has distanced itself from the world so that it is not criticized for the authoritarianism that exists here,” he explained.
Mexico has a privileged position for international trade
If elected as president on June 2, the blue and white candidate highlighted that her priorities will be defend the values of freedom and democracywhile exploiting Mexico's strategic potential to take advantage of “nearshoring” or business relocation.
“Authoritarian governments like Venezuela, Russia, Cuba, Nicaragua will not come to parade here,” he asserted in reference to the sympathies shown by López Obrador with those governments.
On the other hand, he stressed that his priorities will be the United States, as well as connections with Asia and Europe.
“The reality is our geographical location. Our most important market is the US, but we are also the link with Latin America. But we also have a connection with Asia and Europe. Mexico has a privileged position for international trade and I am going to take advantage of that,” he said.
In this sense, he criticized that the current government is not decisively betting on Mexico, considering that this business relocation “is something automatic.”
“If we do not resolve five things, nearshoring will remain a pure dream: rule of law; clean and cheap energy; human capital, we need more science, more technicians; more infrastructure, alliances with the private sector; and public safety,” he noted.
For Gálvez, the issue of public safety is fundamental, pointing out that although some plants are being expanded, new ones are not being built due to existing deficits.
“There are states where nearshoring is not even going to stop. Imagine Colima, Imagine Michoacán: If there is no security, there is no way for it to arrive,” he said, citing those two states in western Mexico, which are among the most violent in the country.
Polls place Sheinbaum with a wide advantage over Gálvez, who occupies second place; while Jorge Álvarez Máynez, from Movimiento Ciudadano (MC) appears in a distant third place.
