U.S. Ambassador To Mexico Is Latest Career Diplomat To Resign
Roberta Jacobson, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, has handed in her resignation. The career diplomat, with more than 30 years in government service says it was a difficult decision to leave. Jacobson, 57, is the latest in a string of high-level diplomats to depart the State Department since President Trump took office.
In a note to embassy staff, Jacobson said, "The decision is all the more difficult because of my profound belief in the importance of the U.S.–Mexico relationship and knowledge that it is at a crucial moment."
She said her resignation will be effective May 5.
Jacobson, who was appointed by President Obama and assumed her post in 2016, did not give a reason for her resignation. But according to former U.S. and Mexican diplomats, the strain in the countries' relations made her job particularly difficult.
Trump's disparaging comments about Mexicans and immigrants has incensed many in Mexico, as have his continued calls for Mexico to pay for a U.S. border wall. A tense telephone conversation last month between Trump and Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto soured over the wall issue, and derailed chances of an in-person meeting between the two leaders.
In addition, negotiators are currently in Mexico City, locked in the seventh round of contentious talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump has frequently threatened to walk away from the trade pact if the U.S. does not get what he considers a better deal.