{"id":78859,"date":"2024-06-22T14:12:06","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T14:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/22\/sheinbaums-american-experience-offers-clues-to-her-approach-to-u-s-relations\/"},"modified":"2024-06-22T14:12:06","modified_gmt":"2024-06-22T14:12:06","slug":"sheinbaums-american-experience-offers-clues-to-her-approach-to-u-s-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/22\/sheinbaums-american-experience-offers-clues-to-her-approach-to-u-s-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheinbaum\u2019s American Experience Offers Clues to Her Approach to U.S. Relations"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/18\/world\/MEXICO-US-sheinbaum-top\/MEXICO-US-sheinbaum-top-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Sheinbaum\u2019s American Experience Offers Clues to Her Approach to U.S. Relations\" title=\"Sheinbaum\u2019s American Experience Offers Clues to Her Approach to U.S. Relations\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the early 1990s, a young scientist named Claudia Sheinbaum moved with her family from Mexico City to Northern California, where she studied at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She lived in housing provided by Stanford University with her two small children and her husband, who was pursuing a Ph.D. there. For four years, Ms. Sheinbaum immersed herself in a new life as an immigrant academic in the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She audited a class taught by a future Mexican foreign minister. She landed on the front page of The Stanford Daily student newspaper for protesting the North American Free Trade Agreement. She found friends who missed Mexico as much as she did. And to people who knew her, she seemed entirely at ease in California, navigating the world of American academia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey could have been professors, they could have made their lives here,\u201d said Alma Gonz\u00e1lez, a close friend of Ms. Sheinbaum\u2019s in California. \u201cBut they decided to return.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, three decades later, she has been elected the next president of Mexico, and is on the verge of becoming the first woman to lead the country. She takes office in October. The next month, Americans will vote to either keep a president who has stabilized relations with Mexico, or return to office a leader who has threatened and disparaged the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At such a decisive moment, Ms. Sheinbaum\u2019s time in the United States and her dealings with American officials throughout her career offer crucial clues about how she will handle the biggest issues in the relationship with Washington.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Here are five things to know.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-4869a958\">Sheinbaum lived comfortably in California.<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">From 1991 to 1994, Ms. Sheinbaum lived in the Bay Area doing research on energy use in Mexico. She, her husband and their two children lived in a modest home, where their neighbors were students from various countries, according to Ms. Sheinbaum\u2019s biographer and two people who knew her at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cShe told me it was a beautiful time in her life,\u201d said Arturo Cano, a journalist who wrote a biography of Ms. Sheinbaum. \u201cHer back doors opened onto a common area and her kids played with kids from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the time, Mexican leftists like Ms. Sheinbaum had reasons to be wary of the United States. The George H.W. Bush administration had just <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1989\/12\/21\/world\/fighting-in-panama-the-implications-war-bush-s-presidential-rite-of-passage.html\" title=\"\">invaded Panama<\/a>, part of a history of U.S. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/revista.drclas.harvard.edu\/united-states-interventions\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">interventions in Latin America<\/a>. Mr. Bush also <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1990\/11\/27\/world\/bush-in-mexican-visit-radiates-amity.html\" title=\"\">backed the Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari<\/a>, who was widely <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2004\/03\/09\/world\/ex-president-in-mexico-casts-new-light-on-rigged-1988-election.html\" title=\"\">accused of fraud in his 1988 election victory<\/a> over a leftist challenger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the lab was just up the hill from the campus at Berkeley, an institution known for its social activism, giving Ms. Sheinbaum a window into a different side of American life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBeing at Berkeley, it\u2019s being at the place where the free speech movement began,\u201d said Harley Shaiken, who was the chair of the Center for Latin American Studies at Berkeley from 1998 to 2021. \u201cShe appreciates aspects of U.S. culture that have shown the side of popular participation and social movements.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-76ae91e1\">She protested NAFTA.<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While at the lab, Ms. Sheinbaum audited a class at the University of California, Berkeley, on U.S.-Mexican relations, according to Jorge Casta\u00f1eda, who taught the course. Mr. Casta\u00f1eda later became foreign minister in the center-right government of President Vicente Fox, but said that at the time, he was close to Ms. Sheinbaum and her husband.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey enjoyed the Bay Area,\u201d Mr. Casta\u00f1eda said in an interview. \u201cAt the same time, they were typical Mexican leftists who were not happy with the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In class, Ms. Sheinbaum and her fellow students examined the \u201ctensions, differences and conflicts\u201d as well as the \u201ctightening of economic links\u201d between the two countries, according to a copy of the syllabus provided by Mr. Casta\u00f1eda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The most pressing controversy of the moment was the negotiation of NAFTA, which was criticized by Mexican leftists because they believed \u201cit would bring an end to Mexican industry and agriculture,\u201d Mr. Casta\u00f1eda said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Mr. Salinas de Gortari gave a speech at Stanford, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/stanfordpolitics.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Stanford_Daily_19911001_0001.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">the university\u2019s newspaper published a photograph of Ms. Sheinbaum<\/a> protesting with a sign that said, \u201cFair Trade and Democracy Now!!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The trade deal, which went into effect in 1994, was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/08\/27\/us\/politics\/us-mexico-nafta-deal.html\" title=\"\">revised under<\/a> the current president, Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador, and is set to be reviewed during Ms. Sheinbaum\u2019s term. The president-elect expressed skepticism this year about the long-term benefits of the original agreement, telling a group representing U.S. private interests in Mexico that \u201cdevelopment was based on low wages, cheap labor,\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.milenio.com\/politica\/sheinbaum-critica-tratado-libre-comercio-salinas\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">local media reported<\/a>, saying that the pact \u201cdidn\u2019t generate the well-being we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But it does not appear that Ms. Sheinbaum plans to torpedo the deal she protested two decades ago. In April, she said <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.excelsior.com.mx\/nacional\/claudia-sheinbaum-preve-revision-del-tmec-sin-grandes-problemas\/1647950\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">publicly<\/a> that it was \u201cfeasible to do this review without major problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-6a75a6cd\">She understands the immigrant experience.<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One of Ms. Sheinbaum\u2019s best friends in California, she told her biographer, was Alma Gonz\u00e1lez, an educator who had migrated to the United States to find better paying work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, Ms. Gonz\u00e1lez is a clinical researcher at Stanford University, but then, she was cleaning houses for a living. Ms. Sheinbaum and her husband \u201cdidn\u2019t act diminishing or belittling in any way,\u201d she told The New York Times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The two women shared a nostalgia for home. They sang boleros together and spent afternoons hunting for authentic Mexican food in immigrant communities across the Bay Area, Ms. Gonz\u00e1lez said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cShe understood well the whole thing of being here and longing to be in Mexico,\u201d said Ms. Gonz\u00e1lez, who had undocumented family members at the time. \u201cI think it weighed on her that people had to come here to work and couldn\u2019t go back to see their families.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The two lamented \u201cthe policies that don\u2019t exist to allow people to come and go legally,\u201d Ms. Gonz\u00e1lez said, \u201cthat we could have if it was a priority for both countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The experience may be part of why Ms. Sheinbaum \u201csees the fate of Mexican migrants in the United States as the most important migration issue that she needs to deal with,\u201d said Andrew Selee, the president of the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based nonpartisan research organization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-5437e9d5\">\u2018Cautious optimism\u2019 about her security strategy.<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In recent years, criminal groups in Mexico have expanded their dominance across the country, experts say, smuggling large quantities of synthetic opioids across the U.S. border while killing Mexicans at will.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">American officials say privately that they believe security coordination could improve with Ms. Sheinbaum. As mayor of Mexico City, she took a different approach than Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador, pouring money into the civilian police force, while he relied heavily on the military.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She raised police salaries, and her administration collaborated well with U.S. law enforcement agencies to confront criminal groups, according to American officials and experts. Homicides and other violent crimes declined precipitously.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey have, in fact, cooperated very well with U.S. agencies in terms of security in Mexico City,\u201d said Lila Abed, the acting director of the Wilson Center\u2019s Mexico Institute, who said there was \u201ccautious optimism\u201d about Ms. Sheinbaum\u2019s strategy for combating violence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Juan Ram\u00f3n de la Fuente, who was just named foreign minister in Ms. Sheinbaum\u2019s future administration, said in an interview that he saw a potential for more security collaboration with the United States under Ms. Sheinbaum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe all acknowledge that we need to collaborate and we need to work together more effectively,\u201d Mr. de la Fuente said.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-4e8f796e\">She speaks English.<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Ms. Sheinbaum took her first call with President Biden this month, the translator unexpectedly dropped off the line, according to two officials with knowledge of the call who were not authorized to speak publicly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">So Ms. Sheinbaum decided to address Mr. Biden in English \u2014 and from then, on the two leaders spoke directly, without relying on translation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was a notable departure from her mentor, Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador. A nationalistic leader, Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador developed a smooth working relationship with President Donald J. Trump and with Mr. Biden largely because of his help securing the border.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador has also relied on interpreters to communicate with U.S. officials, traveled abroad infrequently and bashed Washington\u2019s \u201cinterventionist\u201d foreign policy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe U.S.-Mexico relationship is so deep and so multifaceted that being able to communicate directly, not through interpreters, can really matter,\u201d said Shannon O\u2019Neil, a Mexico specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations. \u201cHaving a close personal relationship really matters and it starts with language. \u201c<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Emiliano Rodr\u00edguez Mega<!-- --> contributed reporting. <!-- -->Kirsten Noyes<!-- --> contributed research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/22\/world\/americas\/mexico-sheinbaum-us.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the early 1990s, a young scientist named Claudia Sheinbaum moved with her family from Mexico City to Northern California, where she studied at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She lived in housing provided by Stanford University with her two small children and her husband, who was pursuing a Ph.D. there. For four years, Ms. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/18\/world\/MEXICO-US-sheinbaum-top\/MEXICO-US-sheinbaum-top-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1147,5710,1070,10825,1069,18167,62091,221],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78859"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78859"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78861,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78859\/revisions\/78861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}