Sheinbaum cheers investment, employment and the peso: Wednesday’s mañanera recapped

• 📈 Sheinbaum touts “good economic news”: At her Wednesday presser, the president highlighted record foreign direct investment in the first half of 2026 (US $34.96 billion), record employment of 60 million people, 1.4% quarterly GDP growth and a “strong, solid” peso, while blaming past governments for suppressing wages.
• 🌎 G20 Summit decision still pending: Sheinbaum said she was invited to the December G20 Summit at Trump’s Doral resort in Miami and believes she “should” attend, but will confirm her attendance closer to the date. A bilateral meeting with Trump isn’t expected until a trade agreement is reached.
• ☎️ 21 calls with Trump: Sheinbaum noted she’s spoken with Trump by phone 21 times and met him twice in person, at the World Cup draw in Washington and the final in New Jersey.
• 📵 No treason charge, but no green light either: Asked about Mexican officials collaborating with U.S. authorities on criminal probes for personal benefit, Sheinbaum said she disagrees with the practice, noting Mexico has its own institutions for that. Whether such cooperation counts as treason “depends on the circumstances,” she said.

Why today’s mañanera matters

At her Wednesday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum took the opportunity to speak about what she described as “the strength” of Mexico’s economy. Sheinbaum focused on the positives, although there are various weaknesses in the economy, including anemic productivity growth and high labor informality.

Also of note at today’s mañanera was the president’s suggestion that she will travel to the United States later this year to attend the annual G20 Summit. Sheinbaum attended the 2024 G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, shortly after she was sworn in as president, but didn’t travel to South Africa for last year’s event.

While it appears likely that Sheinbaum will meet U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders at the G20 Summit in December, a bilateral face-to-face meeting with Trump doesn’t look probable in the near term, even though there are a range of tensions in the Mexico-U.S. relationship, including ones related to security and trade.

The U.S. government announced last month that it had declined to renew the USMCA free trade pact “in its current form” and is currently discussing various trade issues with Mexican officials, including Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard. Mexico is seeking the reduction — or ideally the elimination — of tariffs that the Trump administration imposed on various Mexican products last year, including steel, aluminum and vehicles.

Sheinbaum touts ‘good economic news’

Sheinbaum told reporters that her team had prepared a “mini-presentation of several pieces of good economic news.”

Among the various economic indicators she presented were:

• Record foreign direct investment of US $34.96 billion in the first half of 2026, an increase of 2.1% compared to the same period of 2025.
• Record-high employment of 60 million people in the second quarter of 2026 (55.1% of whom work in Mexico’s vast informal sector).
• Quarter-over-quarter economic growth of 1.4% between April and June, the highest sequential growth rate of any quarter since Q1 2022.
• Record light vehicle sales in Mexico in the first seven months of 2026 (885,353 units).
• A USD:MXN exchange rate of 16.97 on Wednesday morning.

Sheinbaum said that the peso is among the “strongest and most solid currencies in the world.”

Despite a Q2 dip, first-semester Foreign Direct Investment was Mexico’s highest ever

During her economic presentation, the president also railed against past governments — i.e., those in office before Andrés Manuel López Obrador became president in late 2018.

“They said that if the minimum wage went up there would be inflation; that if the minimum wage went up there wouldn’t be investment; that if the minimum wage went up, the peso would depreciate,” she said.

“In reality, they didn’t want to increase workers’ wages in order to benefit a few [business owners],” Sheinbaum said.

“That’s the truth. Past governments never thought about the people, the workers,” she said.

“It turns out that the minimum wage went up from 2018 to now by 154% in real terms … and we have record foreign direct investment, we have a strong, solid peso and, in addition, there isn’t [high] inflation,” Sheinbaum said.

Mexico’s annual headline inflation rate in the first half of August was 3.26%, up slightly from a 3.12% reading in July.

Sheinbaum considering attending G20 Summit in Miami 

Sheinbaum noted that she was invited to the 2026 G20 Summit, which will be held at the Trump National Doral Miami resort on Dec. 14 and 15.

“It’s in the United States and we’re making the decision about whether to go or not,” she said.

“Mexico has to be present, and President Trump decided to hold the meeting in Miami,” Sheinbaum said.

“In principle, we should go to represent Mexico,” she said before telling reporters that she would make a final decision regarding her attendance closer to the date of the G20 Summit.

In earlier remarks, Sheinbaum said she would attend a bilateral meeting with Trump “when we reach an agreement,” presumably on trade.

“… We talk a lot,” she added.

🔴 La presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum indicó que ha tenido 21 llamadas telefónicas con Donald Trump y, cuando sea oportuno, se buscará una reunión presencialhttps://t.co/SL4Fj2OvGh

🎥: Gobierno de México pic.twitter.com/2BQkQJy3NZ

— @diario24horas (@diario24horas) August 26, 2026

“I’ve spoken to President Trump by telephone 21 times,” Sheinbaum said, noting also that she met with the U.S. president at the FIFA men’s World Cup draw in Washington, D.C., last December and at the World Cup final in New Jersey in July.

Sheinbaum rejects collaboration between Mexican officials and US authorities on criminal investigations 

A reporter asked the president her view about collaboration between Mexican officials and U.S. authorities on criminal investigations in the United States pertaining to offenses allegedly committed in Mexico.

“What is your position, president, regarding Mexican officials or politicians seeking to collaborate with investigative authorities in the United States or another country for their own benefit?” the reporter asked.

“I don’t agree with that,” Sheinbaum responded. “There are national institutes for that.”

Asked whether a Mexican official’s cooperation with U.S. authorities on a criminal investigation amounted to treason, Sheinbaum responded: “It depends on the circumstances.”

Two of 10 current and former Sinaloa officials accused of drug trafficking by U.S. prosecutors turned themselves in to U.S. authorities in May,  while in a recently leaked telephone call, Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila said she was willing to cooperate with U.S. authorities, apparently in order to avoid possible criminal charges in the United States and extradition to that country. Ávila was stripped of her U.S. tourist visa last year, but the governor has denied any criminal wrongdoing.