Roberta Jacobson, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico announced Thursday that she will resign from her position sometime in May, according to the New York Times.
“I have come to the difficult decision that it is the right time to move on to new challenges and adventures,” Jacobson wrote in the memo to her staff. “This 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.”
Jacobson started her career at the State Department during the Regan administration in 1986. She has spent more than 30 years in the Western Hemisphere sector and was the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs from March 2012 until she was sworn in as ambassador in May 2016. According to the Times, those close to U.S.-Latin America relations regard her as one of the most knowledgeable experts within the State Department bar-none.
Relations between the U.S. and Mexico have quickly worsened since her tenure began. Last week, after a phone call in which Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto clashed over whether or not Mexico will pay for the Trump’s proposed border wall, the pair agreed to cancel tentative plans for a meeting at the White House in March.
Trump has also said he will tear up NAFTA. The United States, Mexico, and Canada are currently renegotiating the original trade deal made in 1994.
Amid this tension, several other senior officials have chosen to resign. The third-highest ranking member in the State Department, Thomas A. Shannon Jr., announced last month he would resign as under secretary of state for political affairs. John Feeley, ambassador to Panama, made the same decision for political reasons, saying that he felt he could no longer serve President Trump. The Associated Press also noted the departures of Joseph Yun and Elizabeth Shackleford.
