A wake up call for the U.S., Mexico and Canada in one simple picture: A perspective from our CEO

There is no denying that the news cycle these past few months has been intense. I talk to people from the United States and Canada on a nearly daily basis that tell me that, for their own mental health, they are increasingly trying to tune out from the news in their home countries. The recent daily barrage of news has become overwhelming for many people and I often hear that people can’t keep up and get stressed out just thinking about it all.

This is a concerning trend, to say the least. I think we can all agree with the sentiment behind the Washington Post’s official slogan that “Democracy dies in darkness,” regardless of how you feel about that publication as a news source. More and more people tuning out from the news, especially young people, has to be something we all work hard at reversing.

The issue of trade and tariffs is an example that I find people are frustrated and confused about. In just the past few weeks, the Trump administration has told us that 25% tariffs on all goods from Mexico and Canada would start on Feb. 1. Within days, we were told that the tariffs would then temporarily be put on hold. Days later we were told that tariffs were being applied to all steel and aluminum imports effective immediately. Just days later, we were told that tariffs were coming on all vehicle imports. Then we were told that tariffs were coming on chips and pharmaceuticals. On top of all of that, we have completely mixed messages on all of this from the experts. Some are telling us that tariffs would be devastating to inflation and the economy while others say the impact would be negligible.

Perhaps this is all part of a grand negotiation strategy by the Trump administration, but it’s not hard to see why people are stressed out and increasingly choosing to just tune out. Imagine the pressure business leaders are under — trying to make sense of the daily news cycle and make hiring decisions and long term investments in this environment! The team at Mexico News Daily is working hard every day to try to make sense, simplify and clarify the deluge of information coming at us, while at the same time present it in a timely and apolitical manner to our readers — not an easy task these days!

That being said, sometimes it is a picture that captures the moment in a way that words cannot — hence the famous expression that a “picture is worth a thousand words.” In this case, just a few days ago I came across a picture from the economics and business analysis experts at Econovis, which I believe does an excellent job focusing us on the bigger picture through all of the current noise.

As you can see from the post embedded below, it very simply shows who the larger trading partner is of every country in the world. If the country does more trade with the United States, the country is blue. If the country does more trade with China, the country is red. The picture shows how things have changed from the year 2000 to 2024.

The contrast is quite dramatic to say the least. What was once a largely blue-colored world is now almost completely red. Perhaps what stands out most to me is that many of the countries that have been the focus of the Trump administration’s early threats (tariff and otherwise) have been the very few countries that still have the U.S. as its largest trading partner. Look closely at Denmark, Germany, Colombia, Canada and Mexico — they are all still blue! Said differently, the very few countries left on the planet that still have larger trading relations with the U.S. and not China are those that have most been at the receiving end of some of the harshest threats from the Trump administration.

My point is not to argue that there aren’t some valid points on trade and other issues being made by the Trump administration (I think that there are), but rather point out that it’s important to be realistic about the world we live in and recognize the rate at which China is expanding globally in trade. If the United States isn’t more thoughtful about how it treats its “blue” friends, the world might soon look even more red. I would hope that the potential of that risk would be a unifying cause for the negotiators from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico on tariffs, trade, and other issues. Let’s hope so!