By Arlin Medrano. SPR Informa. Mexican Press Agency.
There are gestures that go beyond protocol — they are strategy. President Claudia Sheinbaum’s attendance at the G7 Summit — held in Canada on June 16 and 17 — is not only a historic milestone as the first woman to represent Mexico and North America at this forum, nor as the only head of state to arrive on a commercial flight. It is a bold and carefully calculated political move, in which Mexico takes on a role it had never assumed before: amid a global crisis and in the face of a volatile northern neighbor, the President places herself at the center of global power.
This forum, created in 1975 at France’s initiative to confront the first oil crisis, is comprised of the seven leading industrial powers of the Western world. For decades, it has served as the executive board of the neoliberal order. Major decisions on debt, trade, security, and climate change have been made without the presence or voice of the countries that bear the consequences.
Today, although the agenda is varied, most of the current issues revolve around a common thread — the result of decisions made by one individual: Donald Trump. His return brought with it a renewed agenda of discrimination, supremacism, and confrontation. The far-right — which never truly disappeared — has reclaimed a central space on the world power stage, spreading its conservative wave across Europe and the Americas. Thus, it is symbolic — even if the official reason was the Israel-Iran war — that Trump was the only leader to leave the G7 early, just when he had much to answer for regarding the global imbalance his policies have helped provoke.
Pundits, in their ignorance, have bought into the false narrative that this weakens Sheinbaum, even claiming she was “stood up” by the U.S. president. Not understanding politics is the price paid by those who reduce everything to superficial scandal. Because it is precisely in this context that Sheinbaum makes her move: her presence at the G7 becomes a sovereign statement, strengthening ties beyond our northern neighbor. She presents herself as a democratically legitimate leader — with approval ratings higher than those of many G7 members — with a progressive vision and the ability to negotiate through dialogue, a skill she has uniquely exercised with Donald Trump, enabling her to sit at the table with the world’s powers as an equal. Rather than retreating or isolating herself in the face of U.S. criticism, Mexico asserts its voice at the heart of the global conversation. Trump leaves, Sheinbaum takes the floor.
The G7, long a symbol of Western hegemony, is now seeking to renew its role as a global arbiter. But its legitimacy is in question following the rise of China and Russia. Today, amid a systemic crisis, its members acknowledge that they cannot solve the world’s problems without Latin America’s active participation. That is why the two invited Latin American countries are Brazil, with Lula da Silva, and Mexico, with Claudia Sheinbaum. This summit marks the incorporation of a new voice at the core of global power.
The moment is especially delicate. Tensions with the United States over migration, arms trafficking, and trade wars require a clear, firm, and diplomatically savvy stance. And with the 2026 World Cup — to be hosted by Mexico, the United States, and Canada — and the looming renegotiation of the trade agreement between the three nations, President Sheinbaum has chosen a bold path: instead of reacting with confrontation, she internationalizes Mexico’s dignity, seeking support among nations.
Analysts who mock or downplay this trip fail to understand that international politics is also a stage for symbolic power. Just as Trump used the G7 to undermine cooperation, Sheinbaum uses it to build bridges. Trump leaves, Sheinbaum arrives.
This is not a public relations stunt, as practiced by previous neoliberal governments. This is a move of high-stakes diplomacy. And on that chessboard, the decision by the first woman president of Mexico and North America to show up at the G7 with strength and composure is not just brave — it is essential.
May her words resonate where we have never been heard. May her voice bring peace to nations. And may ancestral strength continue to guide her.
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Mexican Press Agency is part of ALMA, which is dedicated to news and information about Mexico and Mexicans in the United States and is a fiscally sponsored project of Social Focus, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Redwood City, California.
