Claudia Sheinbaum champions Mexico's growth amid recession forecasts

President Claudia Sheinbaum praised Mexico's economic growth after revealing yesterday that it grew 0.2% quarterly and 0.8% year-on-year from January to March , in the face of international and financial organizations that expected a recession in the country.

"The agencies, everyone, were saying there was going to be a decline or that we were going to enter a recession. There's growth, 0.8%," the president declared at her morning press conference.

Sheinbaum boasted about the rise in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) released hours earlier, which surprised the market due to trade uncertainty in the United States, where it was revealed that GDP fell 0.3% at an annualized rate , its first negative quarterly figure since 2022.

The president defended her plan to address U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, which raised concerns about a contraction in Mexico. Last week, Citi estimated the country had entered a technical recession, expecting a decline in the first quarter.

"That's why I said that when international agencies said there was going to be a recession, they didn't understand the efforts we were making, because some people could have sat back or bailed out those at the top, as in the past, and what we've done again is boost the economy from the bottom up," he said.

The President has rejected new forecasts from organizations such as the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ), which predicted a 0.3% contraction in Mexico this year, while the World Bank projected a 0% recession and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean ( ECLAC ) cut its outlook to 0.3%.

He maintained that Mexico "is doing well," although he acknowledged that "of course this new situation" of Trump's tariffs has had its implications, "but we are working every day."

As an example, he noted that the unemployment rate fell to a historic low of 2.2 percent in March, while headline inflation is at 3.96 percent .

EFE

US economy suffers in Trump's first months

The uncertainty and volatility in the markets caused by US President Donald Trump's tariff war has been reflected in the world's largest economy, whose GDP registered its first negative quarterly figure in three years, amid growing threats of a possible recession. GDP contracted 0.3% at an annualized rate, according to data published this Wednesday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis , largely due to an increase in imports in preparation for the implementation of global tariffs.

Trump's decree for cars is "beneficial"

The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum , considered the decree signed by the President of the United States, Donald Trump , to be "beneficial." Trump , who seeks to prevent the accumulation of tariffs on the same product and reduces taxes on auto parts imported by automakers.

"What was published in March for automotive manufacturers already gave Mexico a competitive advantage. What was published yesterday provides an additional competitive advantage. So, it's still beneficial for our country," the President stated.

He was referring to the executive order signed by Trump on Tuesday, which seeks to prevent the accumulation of tariffs on the same product, as part of a de-escalation of the imposition of taxes that have hit his popularity 100 days after returning to the White House .

The announcement came after the U.S. president reached an agreement with U.S. automakers to ease tariffs over the next two years, as part of his strategy to help the industry.

These rebates would apply to both domestic and foreign companies with car factories in the U.S., as long as the final assembly of the car takes place in that country.

Sheinbaum emphasized that the decree signed Tuesday recognizes not only the parts manufactured in the United States, but also the auto parts manufactured in Mexico and Canada, which are part of the three-country trade agreement, T-MEC .

EFE

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