Mexico Names New US Ambassador to Start After Trump Inauguration

Mexico's current ambassador to the United States, Carlos Sada, speaks during a session of the National Immigration Integration Conference, Dec. 12, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn.

Mexico named Geronimo Gutierrez, the head of the North American Development Bank, as the new ambassador to the United States, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Gutierrez will replace Carlos Sada, who will take over the deputy minister post for North American relations, on January 23, following the inauguration of U.S. President elect Donald Trump. His nomination is subject to ratification by the country's Senate.

Gutierrez currently runs the development bank that was set up under the NAFTA trade deal Trump has threatened to tear up and he has held top posts in the foreign, economy and interior ministries during the last two decades.