For more than a year, the U.S. embassy in México City has been without an ambassador. On March 18, 2019, the White House eventually nominated Christopher Landau for the important role of United States ambassador to México, praising his law experience such as arguing before the Supreme Court.
Upon review of his overall qualifications, however, the Democrats Abroad Hispanic Caucus can conclude that this nominee is far from suitable for fulfilling America’s top diplomat posting to our southern neighbor. Although Mr. Landau does indeed have significant experience practicing law within our nation’s judicial system in addition to working on Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, he possesses absolutely no diplomatic experience whatsoever.
Considering the role of U.S. ambassador to México will be a critical role in working with a variety of stakeholders for the next major international trade deal in addition to working for the well-being of American citizens abroad, Mr. Landau plainly lacks the critical diplomatic expertise needed for negotiating on behalf of U.S. interests. For this reason and several others, the Democrats Abroad Hispanic Caucus urges all Americans to contact their U.S. senators to strongly oppose the nomination of Christopher Landau as U.S. ambassador to México.
“This is not a serious nomination. Even the State Department’s newest intern has more diplomatic experience than Christopher Landau. Sure, he’s proven himself in court with legal arguments, but I wouldn’t want someone to fly the plane I’m on simply because he or she has professionally driven a race car, so why should the American people trust someone with no diplomatic experience to be their ambassador?
Donald Trump has managed to repeatedly insult Americans of every color; after the protests in Charlottesville he insulted every American veteran who ever fought off Nazis; and now, unsurprisingly, he’s managed to insult Americans residing in México by nominating someone realistically unqualified to fill an ambassadorship to our nation’s third-largest trading partner.” -- Michael Ramos, current chair of the Hispanic Caucus