Larry Rubin, president of the American Society in Mexico, warned Mexico in a July 28 press conference that if it wants to avoid tariff problems with the U.S., it should stay away from the BRICS. Rubin specifically objected to Mexico’s decision that Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente would attend the July 6-7 BRICS summit in Brazil. He cited BRICS members Russia and China as the primary threat, but by innuendo implied that stronger relations with Brazil could create problems for Mexico, too.
“We maintain that, if this type of rapprochement can be avoided, the better, particularly not because of Brazil, but because among the BRICS there is Russia, there is China, which are two countries in which there is a certain antagonism with [Mexico’s] main trading partner:” that is, the United States. According to the report by Proceso Magazine, Rubin specified that, so far as they are aware, Mexico’s participation in the BRICS summit in Brazil did not signal an active intent to formalize a relationship with the BRICS. Evidently concerned that someone might dare think otherwise, he pronounced that Mexico’s “main economic, commercial relationship is and will continue to be the United States.”
