Carlos Slim To The Rescue

I'm quoted in this story about the press conference Carlos Slim held yesterday (which you can watch in Spanish here). He's talking both to the Mexican people and to Donald Trump, and it's all about speaking Trump's own particular language of negotiation. There are three main elements:

First, Mexican unity. He repeats this over and over. Trump looks for weakness in negotiation, and so this must be avoided. Between the lines, don't head over in AMLO's political direction. Instead, let Slim help the government craft a response.

Second, if Mexico speaks Trump's language, it can benefit. Trump wants to invest in things like infrastructure that Mexico can contribute to and benefit from. He mentions technology a number of times. I assume Slim figures the worst elements of Trump's ideas (like the 20% tariff) can be negotiated.

Third, there's a lot of ego stroking. You should go read Trump's books (he even has one that he holds up), he's such a great negotiator. Trump has an ego that the rest of us truly cannot comprehend (even in academia!) and Slim fully grasps it. If you tell Trump how much you love him, he'll concede more.

It's not coincidental that Slim's press conference and a conciliatory Trump-EPN phone call occurred on the same day. This is becoming a billionaire's game.