Despite worries from some in the Trump administration about the Sunday election of arch-leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president of Mexico, the ambassador of Mexico to the U.S. says there is nothing to fear.
"Relations between our two countries are in better shape than they were a year-and-a-half ago," Ambassador Geronimo Gutierrez Fernandez told a standing-room-only audience at the Hudson Institute on Tuesday.
Freely admitting migration from Mexico to the U.S. has been a major problem between the two countries, Fernandez said the major responsibility for controlling migration falls on the shoulders of Mexico.
His countrymen "must address the root causes of migration" and deal with them, he said, and he predicted, although there will continue to be immigration from Mexico to the U.S., "it will be legal, safe, and orderly."
Fernandez — himself mentioned as a future president of Mexico — also addressed the other major source of dispute between Washington and Mexico City: NAFTA, the trade treaty in which President Trump wants major revisions.
The ambassador pointed to the Trump administration's proposed NAFTA revision which suggests a five-year sunset clause on treaties.
"Mexico is opposed to a sunset clause," he said flatly. "We don't believe it will be helpful."
As to any rancor between Lopez Obrador and Trump, Fernandez noted the president-elect had "already spoken with President Trump" following his election and the transition team has five months to work out any possible problems before the new president takes office.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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