Billionaire businessman Carlos Slim will be among the Mexicans present at the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States in Washington D.C. on Monday.
Francisco Cervantes, president of Mexico's influential Business Coordinating Council (CCE), told reporters this week that he will attend the inauguration with Slim, Mexico's richest person and owner of companies such as Telcel, Telmex, Sanborns and Carso Infrastructure and Construction.
"We're going to be in Washington, we're invited to the dinner. We're going to be there with the high-ranking United States officials to start having talks," Cervantes said Wednesday after leaving a meeting at the National Palace between President Claudia Sheinbaum and Mexican and Canadian business leaders.
Mexico will officially be represented at the inauguration of Trump by Ambassador to the United States Esteban Moctezuma. Sheinbaum confirmed this week that she hadn't been invited to the quadrennial event.
According to the Associated Press, no foreign head of state has ever attended the inauguration of a U.S. president. But that is set to change on Monday as a number of world leaders including President Javier Milei of Argentina and President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador were invited to Trump's inauguration and at least some are expected to attend.
The commencement of Trump's second term as president could have an almost immediate impact on Mexico, as the president-elect has pledged to impose a 25% tariff on all Mexican exports on day one and promptly start his planned mass deportation operation.
Cervantes said Wednesday that the CCE has been working with the government on a plan aimed at averting tariffs on Mexican goods.
"We're preparing to negotiate," he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Sheinbaum said her administration would "have dialogue with the United States government" as it seeks to avoid the imposition of tariffs on Mexican exports.
She has previously said that Mexico would impose a reciprocal tariff on U.S. exports if the Trump administration were to impose a tariff on Mexican exports. Sheinbaum reiterated this week that the federal government's plan to receive large numbers of deportees from the United States during Trump's second term as president is "ready."
In November, Slim asserted that Mexico will "do well" during Trump's second term as president because the Mexican and U.S. economies are "very complementary."
Mexico and the United States are currently each other's largest trade partners with two-way trade worth almost US $800 billion in the first 11 months of last year.
Sheinbaum has stressed that Mexico, the United States and Canada all benefit from the USMCA free trade pact, which is up for review in 2026.
However, Trump has railed against the United States' large trade deficit with Mexico, and accused the country of being a transshipment hub for Chinese goods. He has said he will renegotiate the USMCA, and pledged that his proposed tariff on Mexican exports will remain in effect "until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!"