- 📊 Sheinbaum touts 12 economic bright spots: Pushing back against pessimism following a 0.6% Q1 contraction and Moody’s downgrade of Mexico’s credit rating, the president listed a dozen indicators she said demonstrate economic resilience, including record Q1 FDI, a 2.5% unemployment rate, declining inflation and a record low labor poverty rate.
- 🗳️ President speaks of foreign election interference risk: After the Chamber of Deputies approved a bill allowing elections to be annulled in cases of foreign interference, Sheinbaum said “yes, there could be a risk,” and cited U.S. government funding of NGO Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity as a prior example. She argued that all Mexicans should support the measure passed by the lower house.
- 🪖 Sheinbaum parses Hegseth’s “war on cartels” declaration: Responding to U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s statement that the U.S. is “going to war with the cartels” through the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, Sheinbaum said his remarks applied specifically to ACCC member states, not Mexico, which she said operates under a separate bilateral security understanding.
Why today’s mañanera matters
Even though the Mexican economy contracted on a sequential basis in the first quarter of 2026 and Moody’s cut Mexico’s credit rating last week, the federal government insists that everything is OK.
That attitude was once again on display at the Thursday morning press conference of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who presented no fewer than a dozen reasons for economic optimism.
Also of note at today’s mañanera were Sheinbaum’s remarks about the risk of foreign interference in Mexican elections. That issue is currently in sharp focus due to Deputy Ricardo Monreal’s presentation of a constitutional bill that seeks to allow elections to be annulled in cases of foreign interference.
Toward the end of her press conference, Sheinbaum also took the time to respond to another hawkish comment made by a senior Trump administration official. The U.S. president himself said earlier this month that the United States would “do the job” against cartels in Mexico if the Mexican government didn’t do so itself.
Sheinbaum presents 12 pieces of good economic news
Two days after she highlighted “two pieces of very good news” — a surge in export revenue in April and record foreign investment in the first quarter — Sheinbaum multiplied the “good news” scenario by a factor of six.
“I’m going to give you 12 pieces of good news that demonstrate the strength of the Mexican economy,” she told reporters.
News has come out that has prompted many people to assert that “we’re doing very badly” in an economic sense, Sheinbaum said.
“But I’m going to give you 12 pieces of news, 12 arguments why we’re doing well amid a difficult international situation,” she said, highlighting “the war in Iran” and “the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.”
The “12 pieces of good news” Sheinbaum presented were:
- Record foreign direct investment in the first quarter of 2026. Mexico received a total of US $23.59 billion in FDI in Q1, an increase of 10.4% compared to the same period of last year.
- An unemployment rate of 2.5% in April. Sheinbaum said that Mexico’s unemployment rate is among the three lowest in the world.
- Inflation has declined. The annual headline rate was 4.11% in the first half of May, down from 4.45% across April. Elaborating on the same “piece of good news,” Sheinbaum said that the Mexican peso is “strong,” highlighting a USD:MXN exchange rate of (around) 17.40.
- Gasoline prices are low. Sheinbaum said that gasoline prices in Mexico are among the lowest in the world, “despite the increase in the price of oil due to the war in Iran.”
- Mexico’s budget deficit declined in 2025 and tax collection increased.
- Public debt was equivalent to 50.3% of GDP at the end of the first quarter.
- Mexico’s export revenue hit a record high in the first quarter of 2026. Mexico’s export earnings totaled US $175.58 billion in the period.
- The minimum wage has increased (315 pesos per day in most of the country) and Mexico’s labor poverty rate is at its lowest level on record (30.7% of the population in the first quarter of 2026).
- Pemex’s debt has declined by US $20 billion since 2018, prompting the state oil company’s credit rating to be upgraded.
- Congress recently approved an investment law, paving the way for higher public-private investment in the second half of 2026.
- A Presidential Investment Office was created to “facilitate private investment” and cut red tape.
- Existing welfare programs have been maintained and new ones have been added.
Sheinbaum’s presentation of the “good” economic news came after Mexico’s economy contracted 0.6% on a quarter-over-quarter basis in the first three months of the year. Last week, credit rating agency Moody’s cut Mexico’s credit score to Baa3, its lowest level of investment grade, citing weak economic growth, among other factors.
Sheinbaum addresses risk of foreign interference in Mexican elections
A reporter noted that the lower house of Congress approved a bill that seeks to allow elections to be annulled in cases of foreign interference. She asked the president whether she saw a “real risk” of foreign interference in Mexico’s 2027 elections.
“Well, there has been financing from abroad,” Sheinbaum said before noting that Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, a non-governmental organization, has received funding from the U.S. government.
That funding supported a “male candidate or female candidate in one way or another,” she said, apparently referring to Xóchitl Gálvez, her main rival at the 2024 presidential election.
“In current circumstances, with this offensive we’re seeing from abroad, it’s important that it be made very clear that in Mexico, Mexicans decide,” Sheinbaum said.
New Morena-backed bill seeks to nullify elections in cases of foreign interference
The president dismissed claims that the aim of the law approved by the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday morning was to “guarantee power for Morena,” Mexico’s ruling party.
“There is nothing more false than that,” she said.
“All Mexicans should agree that there shouldn’t be foreign interference in elections in Mexico. Whoever votes against this proposal appears to be in favor of foreign interference in elections in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.
“I believe that all of us should agree that in Mexico, Mexicans decide who governs us,” she said.
Asked once again whether she saw a “real risk” of foreign interference in Mexican elections, Sheinbaum responded:
“Yes, there could be a risk of a foreign intervention in elections in Mexico. Yes.”
Sheinbaum responds to Hegseth’s ‘we’re going to war with the cartels’ remark
Asked about an alleged “media campaign” aimed at convincing Mexicans that a “foreign” — i.e. U.S. — intervention against cartels in Mexico would be a good thing, Sheinbaum first stressed the importance of defending “the sovereignty of Mexico.”
The president — who has rejected offers from U.S. President Donald Trump to send the U.S. Army into Mexico to combat cartels — then turned her attention to remarks made on Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Sitting alongside Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Hegseth said “we’re going to war with the cartels through the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition [ACCC],” a reference to a group of Western Hemisphere countries that was established earlier this year.
🚨🇺🇸“Vamos a la guerra contra los cárteles”, afirma Pete Hegseth en reunión de gabinete con Trump.
El secretario de Guerra de Estados Unidos destacó así la Coalición de las Américas contra los Cárteles. pic.twitter.com/Fc9IkurP4R
— Azucena Uresti (@azucenau) May 27, 2026
Sheinbaum said that “the declaration yesterday of the U.S. Secretary of War has to be read well.”
“From my point of view, he referred in particular to the countries that were at the Shield of the Americas … event with President Trump,” she said, using an alternative name for the ACCC.
“We have a different relationship and it’s based on a [security] understanding we have with them,” Sheinbaum said.
The president on repeated occasions has ruled out the possibility of the U.S. taking military action against cartels in Mexico — even after Trump threatened strikes earlier this year — but CIA personnel allegedly participated in a drug lab raid in Chihuahua last month and there were reports earlier this month that the CIA “facilitated” a “targeted assassination” of a drug cartel member in México state in March.
On Thursday, Sheinbaum said, “we have to be very attentive” to the possibility of foreign interference and intervention in Mexico.
“In the face of any greater interference or desire for greater intervention, we cannot allow that because Mexico is a free, independent and sovereign country. We’re not anyone’s protectorate,” she added.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
