Coordination for Supply Chains / Incorruptible Legal Team

Coordination for supply chains. President López Obrador said his administration is open to coordinating an effort to resume economic activity with the US and protect supply chains. “Many parts of the auto industry and other industries are completely interrelated. An agreement will be reached,” he said. After receiving letters from the US National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and business organizations in Mexico asking him to reopen production activities to shield supply chains, the president said that both countries need each other and this is why a total closure of the border is impossible.

Incorruptible legal team. President López Obrador said a team of lawyers that will report to him is being formed to face the legal processes against big companies who owe taxes. “I am forming a team with very prepared and incorruptible lawyers,” he said. The president lamented that a lawyer from a company “that owes between MX$8billion and MX$10 billion to the Treasury (SAT) threatened to litigate until the year 3000.” The president warned that if the government finds out that a judge is acting to hinder complaints, then he will be reported to the judiciary.

Loans for employers. Next Monday, the government will start delivering 2 million MX$25,000 loans to SMEs and the first recipients will be companies that have not fired employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, President López Obrador said. IMSS Director Zoé Robledo explained that 645,102 small companies have already been approved for the grant.

Daily briefing on loans. President López Obrador said Minister of Economy Graciela Márquez will give a daily briefing (one hour before the daily COVID-19 briefing) to report on the progress of the government loans program. Graciela Márquez said that besides loans for employers, there are another million loans for formal or informal SMEs, and that half of those will be granted to companies based in 80 municipalities and in the main metropolitan areas.

Fox asked for his support for VAT. President López Obrador said that when he was Mexico City Head of Government the then President-elect Vicente Fox asked him for support to increase the VAT. “We have ‘to make the cake bigger because it is not big enough,’ were his colloquial words. ‘To make the cake bigger,’” the president said and explained that he rejected the proposal because it would hurt the poor.

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Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish