Last week, U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar called the reform, which proposes that judges be elected by popular vote, a "major risk to the functioning of democracy in Mexico."

The Mexican government has paused its relationship with the U.S. embassy in the country, President López Obrador said Tuesday, after the U.S. ambassador criticized a judicial reform proposal backed by the president.

"There is a pause," President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at a press conference, clarifying that the freeze is only with the embassy and not with the United States as a whole.

“(For the pause in relations to end, it is necessary that) there be a clarification from them, an apology, whatever; that they express that the issue of the constitution of our government, in the application of our democracy, in the decisions that our legal, legitimately constituted government makes, well, they have to be respectful,” he explained in his morning press conference on Tuesday.

Last week, Ambassador Ken Salazar called the reform, which proposes that judges be elected by popular vote, a "major risk to the functioning of democracy in Mexico."

He also warned of the potential risk to trade relations between the United States and Mexico. The two countries are each other's largest trading partners.

“Based on my lifelong experience supporting the rule of law, I believe that the direct election of judges represents a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy. Any judicial reform must have safeguards that guarantee that the judiciary is strengthened and not subject to the corruption of politics,” the ambassador said in a text shared through the official channels of the U.S. agency.

For his part, the Canadian ambassador to Mexico, Graeme C. Clark, during the Mexico-Canada business forum "CanCham Day 2024", said that the aforementioned reform has raised doubts about the stability of the legal framework in Mexico, which is essential to maintain the confidence of foreign investors.

The pause in relations with the U.S. embassy is "because (the ambassador) is looking to talk to us," Lopez Obrador said. "It's not personal, we have had a good and constructive relationship."

Salazar had said he was willing to speak with Mexican government leaders to discuss different models of judicial representation.

In recent days, López Obrador has criticized the comment, calling it disrespectful and interventionist.