PAN’s relaunch shows ‘lack of sensitivity,’ says Sheinbaum: Monday’s mañanera recapped

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October 20, 2025

Sheinbaum mañanera Oct. 20, 2025 — Sheinbaum criticized the PAN for the timing of its relaunch on Saturday as thousands of Mexicans face the arduous task of rebuilding after flooding destroyed parts of central Mexico. (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)

As was the case at every mañanera last week, Mexico’s ongoing flood disaster was the central focus of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s press conference on Monday morning.

The death toll associated with flooding in Veracruz, Hidalgo, Puebla and Querétaro currently stands at 76, with an additional 27 people classified as missing.

Beyond the floods, reporters on Monday morning asked Sheinbaum about the relaunch of a previously powerful political party and the result of Bolivia’s presidential election.

Sheinbaum criticizes political party relaunch as flood disaster continues

Two days after the opposition National Action Party (PAN) announced the termination of its alliance with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and “relaunched” itself as a “more-open, modern and citizen-focused PAN,” a reporter asked the president her opinion about the developments.

“Can a party be rebuilt through marketing?” the reporter asked.

Sheinbaum didn’t immediately respond to the question, choosing instead to criticize the PAN for the timing of its relaunch.

“I would rather say that there was very little sensitivity [with the choice of] the day they did it, right?” she said.

“… There are tens of thousands of families affected [by the floods], with problems, and in the midst of that a political party relaunch is carried out. They could have waited 15 days, don’t you think? Until the emergency … was over,” Sheinbaum said.

The PAN staged a march in Mexico City to relaunch the party on Saturday. — The PAN organized a march in Mexico City to relaunch the party on Saturday. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)

The fact that the PAN went ahead with its relaunch — which includes a new logo and a new slogan (Homeland, Family, Freedom) — in Mexico City on Saturday “speaks to their vision and their lack of sensitivity and love for the people,” the president said.

Continuing her criticism of the PAN’s relaunch, Sheinbaum said that “the same people” are still involved with the party. It is currently Mexico’s main opposition party in the federal Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, both of which are dominated by the Morena party and its allies.

The conservative PAN was last in government at the federal level during the presidency of Felipe Calderón from 2006 to 2012. Sheinbaum, like her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador — who narrowly lost the 2006 presidential election to Calderón — is a fierce critic of Calderón, blaming him for a range of problems the country suffers today, especially violence.

The PAN contested Mexico’s 2024 elections as part of a coalition that also included the PRI and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD). The coalition’s presidential candidate was Xóchitl Gálvez, who attracted support of around 27% compared to Sheinbaum’s 60%.

Sheinbaum emphasizes the importance of unity in politics

A reporter asked the president about the results of the presidential election in Bolivia, noting that “the left” will no longer hold the presidency in the South American nation.

Centrist Senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira prevailed over former Bolivian president and conservative rival Jorge Quiroga in Sunday’s runoff.

President-elect of Bolivia Rodrigo Paz Pereira. (Facebook)

Sheinbaum said that “from the perspective of the progressive movements in Latin America, it’s a shame that [the left] split there in Bolivia.”

Two leftist candidates contested the first round of the presidential election. One finished in fourth place with 8.5% of the vote while the other attracted support of just over 3% to place sixth in an eight-candidate field.

Sheinbaum stressed that “for our movement” — i.e. the “Fourth transformation” political movement led by the Morena party — “unity is very important.”

“Sometimes that is played down, but speaking politically about the transformation movement, it’s very important to remain united because when you split that’s when you lose strength with the people,” she said.

There are some rumblings about division within Morena, which was founded by López Obrador, but the party remains popular, and the president even more so. Sheinbaum’s approval rating when she concluded her first year in office on Sept. 30 was 73%, according to the results of a poll conducted by the El Financiero newspaper.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

‘TlalocBox’ could streamline monitoring of Mexico’s water supply

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MND Staff

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October 20, 2025

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IPN students — Eduardo Rodrigo Cruz Figueroa and Andrés Jalpilla López, two telematics students at IPN, created the TlalocBox prototype. (IPN)

The National Polytechnic Institute’s (IPN) new water quality monitoring prototype, known as the TlalocBox, could help improve Mexico’s water supply by measuring the purity of cistern water in real time, the institute announced on Sunday.

The TlalocBox, named for the Aztec rain god, was developed to detect contaminants in Mexico’s water, such as heavy metals, industrial chemicals and agricultural waste, thereby helping to prevent disease and environmental damage.

Eduardo Rodrigo Cruz Figueroa and Andrés Jalpilla López, two telematics students from the Interdisciplinary Professional Unit in Engineering and Advanced Technologies (UPIITA), created the prototype, a hermetic box with a system that can be used to monitor the temperature, acidity or alkalinity (pH) and turbidity of a water supply.

The device has three sensors, operates using an Arduino microcontroller — an open-source electronics platform — and is powered by a portable rechargeable battery.

“The box is specially designed to prevent water from leaking and damaging electronic components, while identifying the presence of contaminants,” Cruz Figueroa explained in an IPN press release. Unlike the technologies currently used to monitor Mexico’s water supply, which require the collection of samples that take several days to analyze, the TlalocBox provides almost immediate results thanks to its use of an Internet of Things system.

It connects to SigFox — a low-power global network — and sends small amounts of data over long distances to a platform.

“We programmed the Arduino board so that, once it obtains information from the sensors, it sends the data through the SigFox network to a platform called ThingSpeak, available to end users with very simple interpretation via mobile apps or PCs,” said Jalpilla López.

The students also developed a web and mobile application where data is updated every 15 minutes. The app features a traffic light system, with green indicating that water quality is acceptable, yellow representing average quality and red meaning high contamination.

The IPN project aligns with President Claudia Sheinbaum’s water policy, which aims to improve the quality of Mexico’s water supply.

With reports from La Jornada

British fintech Revolut granted banking license in Mexico

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MND Staff

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October 20, 2025

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Revolut, founded in 2015, serves more than 65 million retail customers globally and is quickly expanding throughout Latin America. (Revolut/Facebook)

UK-based financial technology company Revolut has received formal authorization from the National Banking and Securities Commission to begin operating as a bank in Mexico.

The authorization follows the initial approval granted by regulators in April 2024, making Revolut the first independent digital bank to successfully complete the licensing and approval process from scratch in Mexico.

“We’re going to launch in a matter of weeks and will open the doors to users in our beta program who have signed up for the waiting list,” Revolut México CEO Juan Guerra told Bloomberg Línea.

Serving more than 65 million retail customers globally, Revolut had nearly 200,000 registered users on the list in May and Guerra projected that the new bank could reach up to 1.5 million customers in its first year of operation.

As a fully regulated bank, Revolut will offer a broad range of financial services with enhanced customer protection such as deposit insurance up to the legal limit.

“We’ve adapted our world-class banking app to serve customers across Mexico, at home or abroad, and this is just the beginning,” Guerra said. “We’ll continue to innovate and launch more products to meet all of our customers’ needs in one place.”

Revolut’s initial offering in Mexico will be a bank account with features such as sharing expenses with others, tracking spending and making international money transfers, including transfers between the U.S. and Mexico, one of the largest remittance corridors in the world.

“The data tells us that banking concentration in Mexico is higher than in other Latin American countries, banking penetration is lower, costs are higher, quality is lower — in short, something our country needs is greater competition,” Guerra said.

Revolut is investing heavily in its Mexico operations, Guerra said, actively hiring across all areas and organizational levels in an effort to create a world-class local team.

The Mexico launch is Revolut’s first bank outside of Europe, part of its global expansion plan to reach 100 million customers by mid-2027 and enter more than 30 new markets by 2030.

Latin America is one of the key regions in its expansion plan, Guerra said. The company already operates in Brazil, offering services but without a bank. In June, it acquired BNP’s Cetelem bank in Argentina and it hopes to become a bank in Colombia by next year.

Nik Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko founded Revolut in 2015 and began offering currency exchange and remittance services before expanding its portfolio to include other banking and financial products.

With reports from Bloomberg Línea, El Economista and El Financiero

Veracruz restaurant swept to sea during flood comes ashore 570 km away

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MND Staff

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October 20, 2025

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restauarnt floating in the Gulf of Mexico — The popular floating restaurant was torn loose from its moorings on the banks of the Tuxpan River and carried by the current into the Gulf of Mexico. (Social media)

A floating seafood restaurant in Veracruz state has become an emblem of this month’s devastating floods after breaking free of its moorings and traveling into the gulf and hundreds of kilometers along the coast.

From its longtime location on the banks of the Tuxpan River in the northern Veracruz city of Tuxpan, the restaurant, El Atracadero (The Dock), was ripped from the city’s seawall on Oct. 10 as torrential rains from Hurricane Priscilla and Tropical Storm Raymond caused the river to overflow.

Floating restaurnt in the gulf. — Rather than being smashed to pieces, the restaurant broke into just two relatively intact modules, the second of which came ashore near Coatzacoalcos, one week later and 570 kilometers down the coast. (Social media)

The 46-year-old restaurant — a well-recognized waterfront landmark — was close enough to the Gulf of Mexico that once it broke free, it was carried down river and eventually into the sea.

The Navy (Semar) confirmed that the structure broke into two modules as the floodwaters rose more than 7 meters — and that one of them drifted approximately 570 kilometers to the southern part of the state.

Along its southward journey, the restaurant passed the city of Heroica Veracruz and the popular tourist destination of Boca del Río, though there were no reported sightings from either area.

The main module, containing the kitchen and bathrooms, was found earlier last week near the port of Alvarado about 200 kilometers away.

The second section, which held the dining area, was seen floating Friday off the coast of Coatzacoalcos, a port city not far from the Veracruz-Tabasco border. Spotted less than a kilometer off the coast, it then became beached at Playa El Tesoro.

Both pieces have been secured by the Navy to prevent hazards to navigation.

Crowds gathered to witness the unusual sight, and videos posted by fishermen and residents show the wreckage drifting in open water.

“It’s something unusual to see — something you don’t see every day,” said Ulises, a Coatzacoalcos resident.

43,578 homes were damaged in Veracruz alone

The saga of El Atracadero unfolded amid widespread disaster across Veracruz, Mexico’s hardest-hit state in a month of relentless rain.

Mexico’s Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation Minister Jesús Esteva said last week that 40 municipalities in Veracruz were affected, with the floods and swollen rivers continuing to block many access routes.

A week after Mexico’s floods, the death toll is at 72 and dozens remain missing

Veracruz had confirmed 34 deaths in the latest official reports, among the 76 reported dead in five states in central and eastern Mexico.

At President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Monday morning press conference, federal officials said 43,578 homes were damaged in Veracruz alone.

The government announced a relief plan of 10 billion pesos (US $543.2 million) to cover damages in Veracruz, Hidalgo, Puebla, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí, pledging rapid reconstruction along with a new cell-phone alert system for floods and storms.

Welfare Minister Ariadna Montiel announced that 70,445 homes damaged by the rains and flooding have been surveyed in those five states.

Power has been restored to 98.7% of affected users, officials said, but rescue operations continue as remote communities struggle with collapsed bridges and contaminated water.

Montiel said the owners of homes with confirmed damage will quickly receive 20,000 pesos (US $1,086) for repairs, along with vouchers for household items (refrigerator, stove, mattress, dishes and fan) and an emergency food supply.

Additional support ranging from 25,000 pesos (US $1,358) to 70,000 pesos (US $3,802) will subsequently be provided for home reconstruction, depending on damage suffered.

Information on how individuals can help Mexico’s flood victims is here.

You can also visit the websites of the Mexican Red Cross and the national food bank network Bancos de Alimento de México.

With reports from Milenio, Infobae and Ambito

Sheinbaum government seizing firearms at twice the rate of previous administration

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MND Staff

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October 20, 2025

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Soldiers destroying confiscated firearms with a machine — The more active approach to law enforcement coupled with improved intelligence and investigation could help explain the increase in firearm seizures over the past year. (José Betanzos Zárate/Cuartoscuro)

The current government of Mexico is seizing firearms at twice the rate of the administration of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, statistics show.

The federal government reported earlier this month that 17,283 firearms were confiscated between Oct. 1, 2024 and Sept. 30, 2025, a period that coincides with the first year of Claudia Sheinbaum’s presidency.

During López Obrador’s six-year term, an average of 8,564 firearms were seized on an annual basis. That figure is equivalent to 49.5% of the number of firearms confiscated during the first year of Sheinbaum’s presidency. Federal security forces including the army, navy and National Guard are responsible for most firearm seizures in Mexico.

The 17,283 firearms seized in the 12 months to Sept. 30 is equivalent to 33% of the 51,384 guns confiscated during the best part of López Obrador’s presidency. The ex-president cited the figure of 51,384 in his sixth and final annual report to the nation, delivered in a speech a month before he left office.

Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said Oct. 7 that the seizure of weapons reduces the firepower of criminal organizations and results in “less violence on the streets.”

Homicides declined almost 25% annually in the first nine months of 2025.

Most seized weapons came from the US

The Sheinbaum administration has taken a less passive approach to combating organized crime than the previous federal government. In addition, it has implemented a new security strategy with four core tenets including the strengthening of intelligence and investigative practices.

The more active approach to law enforcement coupled with improved intelligence and investigation could help explain the increase in firearm seizures over the past year.

Sheinbaum on May 6, 2025 — Inresponse to Trump’s offers to help Mexico in the fight against organized crime, President Sheinbaum has repeatedly asked the U.S. to crack down on the smuggling of firearms to Mexico. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)

According to Security Ministry data, 70% of the guns confiscated during the first year of the Sheinbaum presidency were brought into Mexico from the United States.

The illicit southward flow of firearms from the U.S. has long been a problem in Mexico, fueling the violent crime that plagues various parts of the country. Many of the hundreds of thousands of weapons smuggled across the border on an annual basis end up in the hands of members of Mexico’s notorious drug cartels. They are frequently used to commit high-impact crimes including murder.

Almost three-quarters of the more than 14,000 homicides in Mexico between January and August were committed with firearms.

Mission Firewall

In late September, the Mexican and U.S. governments announced the launch of a new bilateral initiative aimed at disrupting the southward flow of illicit weapons across the Mexico-U.S. border.

The joint project is called “Mission Firewall: United Against Firearms Trafficking Initiative.”

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said that the “main goals” of Mission Firewall include increasing border operations to prevent weapons from entering Mexico from the U.S. and expanding use of the eTrace tool to strengthen firearms investigations in both countries.

During a visit to Mexico in early September, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged that the U.S. government would “stop the flow of armaments” to Mexico and other Western Hemisphere countries.

Mexico and US launch Mission Firewall to stop cross-border gun trafficking

“And it’s not just Mexico, by the way. Those arms are flowing to Haiti, they’re flowing to Jamaica, they’re flowing to Trinidad, they’re flowing into the Caribbean and we’re going to put a stop to it,” he said.

The Mexican government has long called on its U.S. counterpart to do more to stem the southward flow of weapons, and has complimented the Trump administration for heeding that message.

It also sued a number of United States-based gun manufacturers and distributors, accusing them of negligent business practices that have led to illegal arms trafficking and deaths in Mexico. The United States Supreme Court threw out Mexico’s US $10 billion lawsuit in June, but the Mexican government has continued to push U.S. authorities to crack down on arms trafficking to Mexico, where guns are only sold legally at two army-run stores.

With reports from Expansión Política

Vaccine to protect Mexican cattle from blood-sucking screwworm may be on the way

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MND Staff

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October 20, 2025

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diseases cattle — The parasitic screwworm is causing economic hardship for Mexican cattle ranchers who haven't been able to sell their stock in the U.S. because of entry bans. (Isabel Mateos Hinojosa/Cuartoscuro)

There is a glimmer of hope for Mexican livestock farmers plagued by the parasitic New World screwworm (NWS) as researchers at the Autonomous University of Querétaro (UAQ) are reporting promising developments in their efforts to produce a pioneering vaccine.

The NWS — a species of blood-sucking blowfly whose larvae eat the living tissue of warm-blooded animals — has been steadily moving through Mexico from Central America since last year. The northward advancement of the pest has the U.S. cattle industry on alert and, since November last, U.S. authorities have twice suspended cattle imports from Mexico.

Screworm fly and larvae — The adult screwworm, a blowfly, lays her eggs in a cow’s open wound, so that the larvae, when hatched, can feed on the live animal’s flesh. (@insectbeau/on X)

As there is presently no vaccine for screwworm, the battle against the pest involves a multi-pronged strategy of sterile insect technique, epidemiological surveillance, pesticide application, border control and immediate treatment of infected animals and humans.

So the news emerging from last week’s 33rd Annual Meeting of the National Technical Advisory Council on Animal Health is cause for optimism.

Dr. Juan Joel Mosqueda, a researcher at the UAQ School of Natural Sciences, told El Heraldo de Chihuahua that the project is using reverse immunology to create a multi-epitope vaccine.

Reverse immunology relies on computational methods to identify potential immune targets, such as antigens or antibodies, rather than traditional methods of isolating them from a live subject. A multi-epitope vaccine is a type of a molecular vaccine that simultaneously encodes multiple target antigens and auxiliary antigens.

“With an effective vaccine, producers would not have to continually invest in chemical treatments,” he said, adding that a new vaccine could reduce the use of fly killers, products that are expensive and pose an environmental risk by harming beneficial insects.

The project is still in the genetic analysis phase as researchers identify antigens that could be incorporated into the vaccine.

“We began working on this idea a little over a year ago as the screwworm advanced from Central America to Mexico,” Mosqueda said. “Just as vaccines have been developed against ticks, we thought we could apply a similar strategy to this larva.”

Advancing to the biological stage to evaluate the first vaccine candidates produced will require initial funding of 1.5 million pesos (US $81,500). Additional funding would be required for challenge trials and to corroborate the vaccine’s effectiveness.

With the necessary resources, Mosqueda estimated that preliminary results on the efficacy of the vaccine candidates could be obtained within a year.

With reports from El Heraldo de Chihuahua and El Orbe

Is your city next? Costco reveals where it plans to open new stores in Mexico

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MND Staff

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October 20, 2025

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Costco warehouse — Mexico is Costco's second-biggest market after the United States. (Unsplash)

Costco has outlined an ambitious expansion plan in Mexico over the next 20 years that includes the opening of new stores in Durango, Tampico and Playa del Carmen.

The expansion plan also includes opening new stores in cities where the company already operates, such as Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla and Querétaro.

Mauricio Talayero speaking at a Deloitte-sponsored event — Mauricio Talayero, Costco Mexico’s finance director, said that the integration with the U.S. economy, and the upward trend in per capita GDP make the investment panorama in Mexico “interesting.” (Deloitte/Facebook)

“We are aware that we are living through very complex times and that they will only get more complex,” Finance Director of Costco Mexico Mauricio Talayero said during a presentation at Retail Day Mexico 2025. “But I will continue to grow this business despite this, despite the authorities, despite the renegotiation of the [USMCA], despite many things.”

According to Talayero, Costco’s growth plans respond to Mexico’s demographic projections; estimations suggest the population will increase by an average of 2.1% over the next 25 years. Its integration with the United States economy, and the sustained increase in Mexico’s per capita GDP, which currently exceeds US $14,000, make the investment panorama “interesting,” Talayero emphasized.

“Mexico is a country of strengths. If economic growth continues and the population expands, the outlook is attractive for business,” Talayero said.

“We identified four markets where Costco is not operating,” Talayero said. One of the markets Costco is considering is the southern state of Oaxaca. However, Talayero said the company has decided “not to open there at the moment” due to recurring social conflicts.

“Ruling out Oaxaca, we have three places left in Mexico [with no Costo],” he said. Those areas are Durango, Tampico and Playa del Carmen.

In the short term, the company has announced a new store in Mexico City, located along División del Norte. Construction is expected to begin in January 2026.

The next Costco store could be near you

In May 2026, the company plans to open a fourth store in Monterrey (Latin America’s biggest Costco store) where the retailer says they could potentially build a fifth store.

Meanwhile, Talayero said that Guadalajara, which currently has three Costco stores, “still has room for another one.”

In Puebla, Costco plans to build a second store, and there are also plans for a new store in Querétaro, in the municipality of Corregidora. Up to six additional stores could be built in the Mexico City metropolitan area.

Looking ahead, regions with the potential for Costco warehouses in the next 10 to 20 years include northern Mexico (Reynosa and Matamoros in Tamaulipas), the Central-Bajío region (Irapuato in Guanajuato, and Pachuca in Hidalgo) and the Riviera Maya (Playa del Carmen).

With reports from El Economista and El Imparcial

Puerto Aventuras resort community announces US $233M expansion

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MND Staff

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October 20, 2025

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With just over 20,000 residents, Puerto Aventuras is the second-largest community in the municipality of Solidaridad, behind Playa del Carmen. (Puerto Aventuras/Facebook)

Puerto Aventuras, a residential and resort complex in the Riviera Maya, announced an investment of over 4.3 billion pesos (US $233.6 million) over the next five years to consolidate its position as a world-class tourist destination.

Located 15 kilometers from Playa del Carmen and 85 kilometers from Cancún International Airport, Puerto Aventuras is the second-largest community in the municipality of Solidaridad, Quintana Roo. This exclusive, master-planned coastal destination operates as a trust, blending luxury tourism with residential living in the Mexican Caribbean.

“What sets Puerto Aventuras apart is its strong sense of community,” architect and founder of the project Román Rivera Torres told the industry magazine Inmobiliare. “Residents deeply identify with the place, which generates a sense of belonging and a commitment to its care and continuous improvement.”

According to Pablo Segui Vizcaíno, the trust’s general director, this investment demonstrates confidence in Puerto Aventuras’ potential and its ability to continue being an attractive destination for both residents and tourists.

Segui said that the investment will go toward the construction of 140 residential apartments and 110 hotel rooms. It will also enable strategic alliances with social and environmental initiatives to promote the region’s well-being and long-term sustainability.

Segui noted that collaboration with authorities is key to promoting the orderly growth of Playa del Carmen. He added that current work is underway to implement fiber optic cables and improve sports facilities to enhance the existing infrastructure.

The community of Puerto Aventuras is divided into two main areas: the beachfront tourist-residential complex, which features hotels, marinas and private villas, and the inland settlement, where most of its local residents live.

Furthermore, the property also houses a town created for Puerto Aventuras’ workers, which accommodates up to 40,000 residents.

For Rivera, Puerto Aventuras embodies more than just “a romantic philosophy of belonging.” It encompasses practical meanings reflected in the continuous planning of operations, enhancements and updates in development.

With reports from Inmobiliare

US content in Mexico-made trucks exempt from 25% tariff set to take effect Nov. 1

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MND Staff

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October 20, 2025

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a side view of a red heavy duty truck — Trump first announced his intention to impose a 25% tariff on truck imports in September, but did not specify if Mexican exports — the largest source of medium and heavy-duty trucks for the U.S. market — would be subject to the same rate. (Unsplash)

As is the case with Mexico’s light vehicle exports to the United States, the U.S. content in USMCA-compliant medium- and heavy-duty trucks made in Mexico will be exempt from the 25% tariff the U.S. will implement on Nov. 1.

The exemption was outlined in a proclamation issued by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday and in an accompanying White House fact sheet on the 25% tariff.

Trump expands 25% truck tariff to include medium-duty vehicles, moves date to Nov. 1

“For medium- and heavy-duty trucks that do not qualify for preferential tariff treatment under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the tariff will apply to the full value of the vehicle,” the fact sheet states.

“For medium- and heavy-duty trucks that qualify for preferential tariff treatment under the USMCA, the tariff will only apply to the value of the non-U.S. content in the vehicle,” it continues.

Trump’s proclamation states that importers of USMCA-compliant medium- and heavy-duty trucks from Mexico and Canada “may submit documentation to the Secretary [of Commerce] identifying the amount of United States content in each model imported into the United States.”

Medium- and heavy-duty trucks include Class 3 to Class 8 vehicles, like large pick-up trucks, moving trucks, cargo trucks, dump trucks and tractors for eighteen-wheelers, according to the White House fact sheet.

The announcement that the U.S. content in trucks made in Mexico won’t be subject to the 25% tariff came two days after President Claudia Sheinbaum said that progress was being made toward an agreement with the Trump administration to that end.

The U.S. content in cars made in Mexico is exempt from the 25% tariff the United States imposed on imports of light vehicles in April. The exemption lowers the effective tariff on Mexican cars to 15% on average as those vehicles have 40% U.S. content on average.

The United States is imposing a 25% tariff on medium- and heavy-duty trucks for national security reasons in accordance with Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

Trump first announced his intention to impose a tariff on imports of heavy-duty trucks (but not medium-duty trucks) in late September, saying at the time that the duty would “protect our Great Heavy Truck Manufacturers from unfair outside competition.”

Earlier this month, Trump said that they 25% duty would also apply to medium-duty trucks.

Mexico is the world’s largest exporter of medium and heavy-duty trucks to the United States.

In the first seven months of 2025, Mexico’s exports of trucks, buses and special purpose vehicles to the United States were worth US $25.86 billion, accounting for 80% of U.S. expenditure on imports of those vehicles, according to U.S. government data.

Buses made in Mexico will face 10% tariff

Trump’s proclamation also states that a 10% tariff on imports of buses will take effect on Nov. 1. The duty will apply to school buses, transit buses and motor coaches, according to the White House fact sheet.

mercedes benz bus — Production of heavy-duty vehicles and passenger buses in Mexico has seen a sharp decline in 2025, according to data from INEGI. (Mercedes Benz)

There will be no exemption for the U.S. content in buses made in Mexico.

Several companies including Volvo and Mercedes-Benz manufacture buses in Mexico. Some of the buses they manufacture are exported to the United States.

US content in USMCA-compliant truck parts will also be exempt from tariff

Trump’s proclamation states that imports of medium- and heavy-duty vehicle parts will also be subject to a 25% tariff starting Nov. 1.

However, the U.S. content in USMCA-compliant parts, including engines and transmissions, will be exempt from the duty.

Moreover, “USMCA-compliant medium- and heavy-duty truck parts will not be subject to tariffs … until the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, establishes a process to apply tariffs to the non-U.S. content of the parts,” according to the White House fact sheet.

It was unclear how soon the process would be established.

The White House fact sheet also says that Trump’s proclamation “incentivizes domestic medium- and heavy-duty truck production by offering an offset to a portion of tariffs for medium- and heavy-duty truck parts equal to 3.75% of the aggregate value of all trucks assembled in the United States from 2025 through 2030.”

More US protectionism

The tariffs the United States will soon impose on trucks, buses and medium- and heavy-duty vehicle parts will add to the Trump administration’s protectionist “America First” posture that has affected U.S. trading partners around the world.

Since returning to the White House in January, the U.S. president has significantly undermined the USMCA by imposing tariffs on a range of imports from Mexico and Canada.

Mexican products including cars, steel and aluminum now face tariffs when exported to the United States. In March, Trump imposed a so-called “fentanyl tariff” on all imports from Mexico and Canada that don’t comply with the USMCA.

The three-way trade pact will be subject to a formal review process in 2026. Consultation processes ahead of the review have already commenced in Mexico and the United States.

Sheinbaum has expressed confidence that the outcome of the review will be positive for Mexico, even though Trump has indicated that he wants to “renegotiate” the pact he signed off on during his first term as president.

The U.S. president is unhappy that the U.S. runs trade deficits with both Mexico and Canada, and has accused both of not doing enough to stem the flow of narcotics across their borders.

Mexico and the United States are each other’s largest trade partner. Two-way trade between the neighbors totaled just under US $840 billion in 2024.

With reports from El Economista, Sin Embargo and AFP

Mexicans who have won the Nobel Prize

By

MND Staff

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October 20, 2025

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Nobel Prize ceremony — Nobel Prize ceremonies take place annually in Stockholm, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway. (Nobel Prize)

Nobel Prize season has arrived, and we now know the laureates for the 2025 edition. Although several Mexican figures were rumored as potential winners, none made the final list this year.

However, three Mexicans have won the coveted prize during its history. Let’s take a moment to remember their achievements.

What is the Nobel Prize?

Each October, committees in Sweden and Norway award six Nobel prizes related to science, literature, economics and peace work to those “that have conferred the greater benefit to humankind.”

The prizes were created in 1895 by Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, who in his will stipulated that his fortune be used to reward those who made great contributions to humanity in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace.

The three Mexicans who have won a Nobel Prize

Alfonso García Robles (Nobel Peace Prize, 1982)

Alfonso García Robles (1911-1991) was a prominent Mexican diplomat born in Zamora, Michoacán. He studied law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and completed postgraduate studies in Paris and The Hague, specializing in international law.

For this work and his role in the UN disarmament negotiations, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982, along with Swedish diplomat Alva Myrdal. In the words of the Nobel committee, the award was granted “for their work in support of disarmament and nuclear-weapon-free zones.”

García, regarded as a skilled and talented negotiator, played a crucial role in the Treaty of Tlatelolco (1967). While serving as Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, the diplomat chaired all the meetings for the military denuclearization of Latin America that took place between 1964 and 1967.

García’s work culminated in the “Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America,” also known as the Treaty of Tlatelolco, signed on February 14, 1967. The treaty is considered by experts as a pioneering international agreement that declared Latin America and the Caribbean nuclear-weapon-free zones.

This treaty marked a turning point in global diplomacy, serving as a model for other regions.

Octavio Paz (Nobel Literature Prize, 1990)

Octavio Paz (1914-1998) was a Mexican poet, essayist and diplomat, born in Mexico City. Despite growing up under poor circumstances, his writing earned him a place as one of the most influential literary figures of the 20th century.

In 1990, Paz received the Nobel Prize in Literature “for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity.”

The Swedish Academy recognized in his work a profound exploration of the human soul, a continuous exercise in lyrical and philosophical reflection, as well as a creative dialogue between different cultures and traditions. His poetry and essays are distinguished by their richness of language, originality and the universality of their themes, which range from loneliness, love and identity to history and politics.

In addition to being a poet and writer, Paz worked as a poet, journalist and translator. Starting in 1946, he also served as a diplomat for 20 years.

One of the most popular works of Paz is “El laberinto de la soledad” (“The Labyrinth of Solitude”), a collection of essays published in 1950 that reflect on Mexican history and culture. Paz was married to Mexican writer Elena Garro. According to published works of Garro, their relationship was marked by conflict, jealousy and gender violence.

Mario Molina (Chemistry Nobel Prize, 1995)

Mario Molino’s discoveries about the ozone layer earned him a Nobel Prize in chemistry. (Gobierno de Mexico)

Mario Molina (1943-2020) was a prominent Mexican scientist originally from Mexico City, who made a groundbreaking discovery regarding the ozone layer.

In 1974, alongside Frank Sherwood Rowland, he published research predicting the thinning of the ozone layer caused by chlorofluorocarbons, compounds found in aerosols and refrigerants. Their research played a crucial role in the creation of the United Nations’ Montreal Protocol, the first international treaty designed to address a global environmental issue caused by humanity.

Thanks to his research work, in 1995, Molina received the Chemistry Nobel Prize together with Rowland and Paul Crutzen for their “work on the chemistry of the atmosphere, especially on the formation and decomposition of ozone.”

The Nobel Prize organization has recognized that, thanks to the discovery of the effects of freons on the ozone layer, its depletion has been slowed.

Molina attended a boarding school in Switzerland from the age of 11, as it was considered important for a chemist to understand German. He later studied chemical engineering at UNAM and obtained a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

It was during his time at Berkeley that he discovered how freons damage the ozone layer.

Notable Mexican nominations

Several notable Mexicans have been nominated for the Nobel Prize throughout history. Some recent examples include the non-profit organization Por Un País Mejor (For a Better Country), founded by Víctor González Torres (Dr. Simi). This organization has been nominated several times for its humanitarian work, with the support of Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchú.

Another recent nomination includes that of writer, poet and essayist Cristina Rivera Garza. Originally from Tamaulipas, Rivera emerged as a strong candidate in the Literature category this year, according to major international betting houses such as Nicer Odds and Ladbrokes.

Gabriela Solis is a Mexican lawyer turned full-time writer. She was born and raised in Guadalajara and covers business, culture, lifestyle and travel for Mexico News Daily. You can follow her lifestyle blog Dunas y Palmeras.