Mexico's business bosses praise Lopez Obrador after testy campaign
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s business elite had warm words for president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday after he assured them he respected private enterprise, in contrast to jibes in the campaign that some tycoons belonged to a “mafia of power.”
Mexico's President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Juan Pablo Castanon, President of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) shake hands during a news conference in Mexico City, Mexico July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
The head of the powerful CCE business lobby, Juan Pablo Castanon met Lopez Obrador and both said in a news conference the encounter was characterized by certainty and trust.
“I want to express my satisfaction for the attitude of the business sector,” Lopez Obrador said. “They have acted very respectfully to us, recognizing our triumph.”
Since winning a landslide in Sunday’s presidential election, Lopez Obrador and his team have focused on soothing market fears, saying he would not ramp up spending and would respect the Mexican central bank’s independence.
Mexico’s business community has in turn reached out to try to ease past tensions with the new leader.
German Larrea, chairman of miner Grupo Mexico, published a full-page message in a national newspaper congratulating Lopez Obrador and applauding his comments. In the campaign, he warned staff about voting for him.
Claudio X. Gonzalez, whose family owns part of Kimberly Clark de Mexico, said on Twitter he wished Lopez Obrador the best and asked him to be a unifying figure.
Mexico's President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador arrives at a meeting with the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) in Mexico City, Mexico July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
Former President Vicente Fox, who had a tense relationship with Lopez Obrador when he was mayor of Mexico City and released a video during the campaign titled “how can you support Lopez? Impossible.,” also congratulated him.
Lopez Obrador criticized all three during the campaign, in which Castanon also warned voters about the dangers of “populism.”
In March the CCE urged him to stop questioning major planks of the current government’s economic agenda, such as a new $13 billion airport for Mexico City.
The leftist slammed corporate defenders of the airport project as “corrupt.” He has since moderated his stance.
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On Wednesday, Lopez Obrador said even though his coalition will likely have a majority in Congress, he would not impose anything and he was building an authentic democracy not a dictatorship.
Lopez Obrador and Castanon agreed to work together on labor issues for young people, after a campaign promise for apprenticeships funded in part by the government. Lopez Obrador said his youth programs and higher pensions for the elderly would together cost 150 billion pesos ($7.7 billion).
Mexico’s peso on Tuesday posted its biggest daily increase in over two years, boosted by a global emerging markets rally, as well as pledges from Lopez Obrador to not increase spending.
Despite uncertainty about what policies he could put in place, foreign investors have given him the benefit of the doubt for now, eyeing the payout on Mexican bonds, which offer the highest rates of any investment grade country.