Source: Sputnik Mundo
What it’s about: This article discusses certain statements made during a press conference held by the Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard and Mexican Ambassador Martha Barcena Coqui in Washington D.C. on June 3rd. The two formed part of a Mexican delegation in talks following trade tariff threats from the Trump administration, in addition to statements made on June 13th by Ebrard regarding the Mexico-U.S. negotiations.
Why it’s misleading: This piece is misleading for multiple reasons. First, it combines two separate statements that occurred over a week apart without making a clear distinction. Secondly, it interprets a partial statement as fact and uses it to title this piece. During a June 3rd press conference, the Mexican Foreign secretary did in fact say, in part, “qué ganamos con una guerra comercial que vamos a perder?” This was part of a longer statement that discussed the mutual dependence of U.S.-Mexico trade relations. Sputnik goes one step further and claims that “El canciller Ebrard asegura que México perdería una guerra comercial con EEUU.” While the secretary did say that Mexico would lose a trade war with the U.S., there was no “assurance” that this would occur—as Sputnik claims. To back up its misleading title, Sputnik uses a quote that the secretary made over a week later when there was no discussion of such a war, “aceptar las medidas de EEUU es una traición a la historia de México, con una mentalidad de país colonizador.” Sputnik took two separate statements, spoken at different moments about different subjects, and combined them in a way that was fitting for their article, making it misleading.