Photograph Source: silviadinatale© – CC BY 2.0

Mexicans have heaped massive praise on their president, Claudia Sheinbaum, for her negotiations against an increasingly frenzied and unpredictable Donald Trump. She drew hundreds of thousands to Mexico City’s central square — Zócalo — on March 9 to rally for national sovereigntyafter Trump agreed to delay U.S. import tariffs on the country. And she is admired worldwide as well.

Trump has credited Sheinbaum’s response to his demands on drug and migration controls as the reason for pushing back tariffs. But she also succeeded in delaying them by making it clear that they would impact U.S. companies, especially automobile manufacturers, that export from Mexico.

It’s clear that Trump’s flip-flopping and the delay of the tariffs till April 2 are primarily due to the intervention of the CEOs of the Big Three US auto manufacturers: General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler).

According to the New York Times, these executives told Trump that tariffs on cars and car parts from Canada and Mexico would wreck their profits by adding millions of dollars in costs. They also reportedly communicated that auto production in those countries support American jobs in parts manufacturing and at dealerships.

The situation is similar on the other side. It’s not merely a........

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