Mexico today distanced itself from United States government decisions to reopen its economy in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic, which could entail a readjustment of the common border.
The issue came up at the morning briefing of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador when his foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, explained the scope of a plan to support the Mexican private sector in the fight against the epidemic.
A journalist told him that the U.S. Congress apparently intends to ask the Mexican government to open up certain industries, such as the automotive industry, declaring them essential, in line with alleged commitments under the Tripartite Trade Agreement with Canada.
Ebrard responded that this is not a bilateral issue even though there is good communication with the United States, including the support of the neighboring country to obtain medical equipment as is also the case with Europe as is the case with Germany.
He insisted that it is clear that the process that Mexico follows in the case of the treatment of the pandemic has to do with the times of general security and the health proposals based on scientific evidence, it is what governs us. Consequently, he reiterated, this is not a bilateral problem; there are no proposals, nor do we assume that there are.
We are committed to protecting the sick, to avoiding contacts in order to overcome the infection curve, and Mexico will follow that path, he reaffirmed.
For his part, President Lopez Obrador announced that in the next few hours the National Institute of Statistics will report on the economic performance in the first quarter of this year, which drop was predicted catastrophic and instead resulted in a decrease of only 1.6 percent compared to last quarter.
He also explained that despite the pandemic and the economic crisis due to the fall in oil prices, tax collection in the first four months of this year, up to April, is above average in real terms.
He warned, however, that it is not a matter of singing victory because the most difficult part comes from today; the May, June and July quarter will be complicated and the difficulties may last until October, but we have a strategy to face the problem.
We have already decided, he said, not to resort to debts, not to increase taxes or fuel prices, and to strengthen the austerity policy, to be much stricter in the fight against corruption and impunity and to provide more support to the population. (https://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=55170&SEO=mexico-dissociates-itself-from-u.s.-decision-to-reopen-economy)
