President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Friday morning press conference had a colorful and melodious start, with musicians and dancers joining Oaxaca Governor Salomón Jara to promote the Guelaguetza festival, which is taking place in Oaxaca this month.
One of the dancers was wearing a mojiganga, a gigantic puppet figure that includes an oversized head.
Con todo el folclor, colores, sabores y ritmo del estado de Oaxaca, hoy en la #MañaneraDelPueblo, se anunció La Guelaguetza 2025, que se realizará del 21 al 28 de julio.
Esta vez, la celebración va por una gran causa, ya que parte de los ingresos se destinarán al apoyo de… pic.twitter.com/cmRNJswcFd— Ernestina Godoy Ramos (@ErnestinaGodoy_) July 11, 2025
Later in the press conference, Sheinbaum responded to questions on a range of topics, including trade, artificial intelligence and her reading habits.
‘We don’t agree with the tariffs,’ says Sheinbaum
A reporter asked the president about the 35% tariff that United States President Donald Trump said he would impose on imports from Canada starting Aug. 1.
Sheinbaum first noted that a Mexican delegation led by Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard was in Washington, D.C., for talks on Friday with U.S. officials about the “global agreement” covering security, migration and trade that she proposed to Trump last month.
Mexico is seeking to win an exemption from, or at least a reduction of, the tariffs that currently apply to Mexico’s steel, aluminum and vehicle exports to the United States.
Sheinbaum declared that “obviously, we don’t agree with the tariffs.”
That remark apparently applied to the duties the United States has imposed on imports from Mexico and Canada, as well as the 35% tariff Trump said he would impose on Canadian products starting Aug. 1.
“We believe that the best way to compete … is by strengthening the trade agreement,” Sheinbaum said, referring to the USMCA, which is up for review in 2026.
The strengthening of the three-way pact will allow North America “to compete a lot better with other regions of the world,” she said.
“That has always been our position,” Sheinbaum added.
Asked whether Mexico would always favor a trilateral free trade agreement in North America, the president responded:
“Yes, the three countries being together strengthens us. Our position has even been to expand [the USMCA] to really make [the continent of] America an economic, cultural and social power in all senses.”
Sheinbaum added that Mexico’s “maxim is cooperation for development.”
“Of course President Trump has his own vision, and we’re always going to seek to defend Mexico, in the first place — jobs and the people of Mexico,” she said.
Sheinbaum: National Artificial Intelligence Laboratory will focus on various issues
Sheinbaum reminded reporters that establishing a National Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is one of the objectives of the federal government’s Plan México economic initiative.
She said that José Antonio Peña Merino, head of the government’s Digital Transformation and Telecommunications Agency, and the federal minister for science, humanities, technology and innovation, Rosaura Ruiz, are working toward that goal.
The laboratory, Sheinbaum said, will have “many aspects.”
It will focus on education, technological development, the development of open-source programs and various other issues, she said.
“We’ll present it here at a later date,” Sheinbaum said.
In April, she said that experts in a range of scientific disciplines would work together at the National Artificial Intelligence Laboratory on strategic projects. Sheinbaum said at the time that seismology, meteorology and medicine would be among the topics AI researchers would focus on.
The government has not said when it experts the laboratory to start operations.
Sheinbaum has finished Merkel’s autobiography. What’s she reading now?
Almost three months after Sheinbaum revealed that she was reading the autobiography of former German chancellor Angela Merkel, a reporter asked the president whether she had finished the book and whether she learnt any “lesson” from it.
Sheinbaum said that she had finished reading Merkel’s book (called “Freedom: Memoirs 1954-2021″) and noted that the former German leader recounts her “personal story” growing up in East Germany and writes about her political career including the “important decisions” she took as chancellor.
She reiterated that is not politically aligned with Merkel, but described her personal story as “very interesting.”
Sheinbaum revealed that she is now reading a book called “Una patria con madre” (A Homeland with a Mother), a non-fiction work about La Malinche, the Indigenous woman who was an interpreter, advisor and companion to Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.
The book is “very interesting, and we’re going to speak about it this year because it’s the Year of the Indigenous Woman,” she said.
“… We have a working group of anthropologists, historians and philosophers … [focused on] this person who is so important and so maligned and whose recognition is very important,” Sheinbaum said.
She said that after the conclusion of the celebrations marking the 700th anniversary of the founding of Tenochtitlán, “we’re going to start speaking about Malinche.”
“That’s why I’m reading that book,” Sheinbaum said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
Source: Mexico News Daily
