At her Thursday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about her meeting on Wednesday with business leaders from 17 different countries and responded to a question about the government’s proposed name for a new train that will run from Mexico City to the northern border.
Early in the mañanera, Mexico’s finance minister provided an update on government revenue.
Sheinbaum presents Plan México to international business leaders
Sheinbaum acknowledged that she met on Wednesday with business leaders from various companies that are members of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Among the people who attended the National Palace meeting were WEF president and CEO Børge Brende, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.
Sheinbaum said that the businesspeople requested to meet with Mexican government officials in Mexico.
“They requested meetings in Mexico and for [government] ministers to speak about what Plan México is,” she said.
“And they asked me if I could give them a talk about Plan México,” Sheinbaum added.
Plan México is an ambitious economic plan whose goals include making Mexico the 10th largest economy in the world, reducing reliance on imports from China and other Asian countries and creating 1.5 million new jobs. Sheinbaum presented it in January and announced 18 supplementary “programs and actions” in April.
The president said that she and her government colleagues spoke on Wednesday about “the main strengths” of the Mexican economy, and about Plan México, its objectives, the future outlook for Mexico and the country’s relationship with the United States, Canada and other nations around the world.
She said that there was no aim to reach any kind of agreement with the WEF-affiliated business leaders. They just wanted to come to Mexico to learn about “our proposals and how we see things” as well as investment opportunities “in our country,” Sheinbaum said.
In a video she shared to social media, the president speaks to the business leaders about the Plan México objective to “produce more in Mexico for the internal market and also for exports.”
Sheinbaum also speaks about increasing Mexico’s “food sovereignty” and “energy sovereignty” and strengthening public and private investment.
Government revenue up 9.1% in first 9 months of 2025
Speaking shortly after the commencement of the mañanera, Finance Minister Édgar Amador Zamora thanked Mexico’s taxpayers for their contribution to public resources.
He reported that the government’s tax and non-tax revenue increased 9.1% annually in real terms in the first nine months of 2025 to reach 4.63 trillion pesos (US $251.7 billion).
Amador pointed out that the amount is 542 billion pesos higher than government revenue between January and September last year.
“Of those 542 billion [pesos], practically 200 billion corresponds to improved revenue collection in the area of foreign trade — all the taxes linked to foreign trade,” he said, adding that the “fight against corruption” at points of entry to, and exit from, the country has helped boost income.
“Thanks to that … it has been possible to have very, very solid growth of public income, amid an economic context in which [GDP] growth has been a little more moderate,” Amador said.
Sheinbaum highlighted that tax collection has reached its highest level on record, “without [the government] really having increased taxes or duties.”
She also thanked Mexicans for paying their taxes.
“A big applause for all the Mexican women and men,” Sheinbaum said.
She said that the latest tax revenue figures show that there is “confidence that resources are being used transparently and honestly.”
Sheinbaum also asserted that 99.9% of Mexicans are complying with their tax obligations, even though Mexico has a large cash-dependent informal sector.
She added that “almost all” business people, “with very few exceptions,” pay their taxes.
A consultation on train names?
A reporter asked the president why the government planned to name the train that will run on the Mexico City-Nuevo Laredo railroad the “Gulf of Mexico” train “when it doesn’t have a connection with the Gulf of Mexico.”
“But it’s in the west,” Sheinbaum said, using the word occidente (west) when she apparently meant to say oriente (east).
“If you don’t agree, we’ll put it to a vote again, no problem,” said the president, who held an impromptu vote on the “Gulf of Mexico” name during an address in Mexico City’s central square, the Zócalo, last Sunday.
The reporter asked Sheinbaum why she hadn’t asked residents of Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas their opinion on the matter when she delivered speeches in those states during her recent nationwide “accountability tour.”
“Do the citizens of the northeast have no voice or vote in this matter?” the reporter probed.
“Even you’re laughing at the question,” Sheinbaum noted before breaking into laughter herself.
“We can do a [public] consultation to determine what to call the trains,” said the president, whose administration is building a range of rail projects in Mexico.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
