Mexico’s week in review: Prisoner handover deepens US security ties while trade tensions threaten USMCA

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January 24, 2026

A man looks out over Mexico City from a public transport gondola — A man looks out over Mexico City from Line 1 of the Cablebús, the city's aerial lift transport system. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)

This week in Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum defended her government’s transfer of 37 alleged cartel members to the United States as a “sovereign decision” even as opposition lawmakers questioned the legality and timing. Nine thousand kilometers away in Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declared a “rupture” in the international order and announced new trade partnerships — prompting Sheinbaum to dispatch her Economy Minister to Washington to smooth over relations before the formal review of North America’s free trade deal. Meanwhile, Spanish King Felipe VI shook hands with Mexico’s representatives at the FITUR tourism fair in Madrid — the first contact between the Spanish crown and Mexican officials since 2019’s diplomatic freeze. As FAA warnings alerted U.S. pilots to possible military activity over Mexican airspace and domestic tourism stagnated for the second consecutive year, the week illustrated Mexico’s simultaneous push for global prominence and struggle to maintain regional stability.

Didn’t have time to read this week’s top stories? Here’s what you missed.

Security and bilateral cooperation

The week’s most significant development came Tuesday when Mexico transferred 37 alleged cartel members to the United States in the third major prisoner handover since President Claudia Sheinbaum took office. Among those sent north were Ricardo González Sauceda, identified as a regional leader of the Northeast Cartel, and Pedro Inzunza Noriega, father of a senior Beltrán Leyva Organization figure. The transfer brings to 92 the total number of high-level criminals extradited during the current administration.

Mexico sends 37 alleged criminals to US in third major prisoner transfer

Security Minister Omar García Harfuch emphasized that all transferees were wanted by U.S. authorities and that Mexico received assurances the death penalty would not be sought against any of them. The move appeared designed to demonstrate cooperation amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration, which has recently threatened military strikes against cartels operating in Mexico.

President Sheinbaum defended the decision during Wednesday’s morning press conference, calling it a “sovereign” choice made in Mexico’s interests rather than a capitulation to U.S. pressure. Critics in opposition parties questioned whether proper legal procedures were followed, with some lawmakers demanding greater transparency about the terms of the transfers.

The bilateral security relationship also made headlines when Mexican authorities announced the arrest of Alejandro Rosales Castillo, an FBI “10 most-wanted fugitive” sought since 2016 for murdering his former girlfriend in North Carolina. Captured in Pachuca, Hidalgo, the arrest demonstrated ongoing cooperation between Mexican and U.S. law enforcement agencies.

Thursday brought an even more dramatic capture when former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding turned himself in to authorities in Mexico City. Wedding, a Canadian who competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, allegedly ran a transnational cocaine network that imported 60 tonnes annually while living a “colorful and flashy” lifestyle in Mexico for over a decade. FBI Director Kash Patel flew to Mexico City to personally escort Wedding and Castillo back to California, calling Wedding “a modern day Pablo Escobar.”

FBI Director Kash Patel announces the capture of Ryan Wedding, a former Olympian and accused drug lord, after years on the run.

“Just to tell you how bad of a guy Ryan Wedding is, he went from an Olympic snowboarder to the largest narco trafficker in modern times,” Patel said.… pic.twitter.com/GZgAFQqvd5

— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 23, 2026

Adding to the week’s security-related news, questions arose about a U.S. military plane that landed at Toluca airport Saturday. During Monday’s press briefing, Sheinbaum clarified that the flight had been authorized in October for training purposes, with Mexican security officials boarding the aircraft to travel north for a month-long program. Security Minister García Harfuch elaborated during Friday’s conference that U.S. Northern Command had invited Mexican personnel to a Mississippi base for tactical training in shooting and investigation. While Sheinbaum acknowledged it would have been preferable to use a Mexican military plane, she stressed no U.S. troops had entered Mexican territory.

Aviation alerts raise concerns

The Federal Aviation Administration issued seven NOTAMs (notices to airmen) Friday urging U.S. pilots to “exercise caution” over Mexico’s Pacific coast and the Gulf of California due to possible military activities and satellite navigation interference. Mexico’s response characterized the warnings as precautionary, with the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport asserting there were no operational implications for Mexican airspace.

The FAA alerts, valid through March 17, sparked speculation about potential U.S. military operations in the region. However, Sheinbaum maintained Sunday that no U.S. military action was occurring in Mexican territory, pointing to coordination between Mexican authorities and the U.S. Embassy to clarify the situation.

International diplomacy and trade tensions

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mexico’s presence addressed both environmental and economic priorities. Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena used the platform to stress urgent climate action, warning that current efforts remain insufficient. She outlined Mexico’s development of three circular economy parks and its commitment to achieving net-zero emissions, while seeking international partnerships to accelerate the country’s green energy transition.

Perhaps more consequential for Mexico’s economic future were remarks by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose speech Sheinbaum publicly endorsed during Wednesday’s press conference. Carney’s assertion that the rules-based international order is undergoing a “rupture, not a transition” — with veiled references to U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies — could signal challenges ahead for the USMCA trade agreement’s upcoming review.

The escalating tensions between Trump and Carney prompted immediate action from Mexico. After Trump called Canada ungrateful in his Davos speech, Sheinbaum promised Mexico would hold the deal together as Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard went to Washington to smooth ruffled feathers. “We are going to work so that it doesn’t break,” Sheinbaum said of the USMCA deal.

Canada PM Mark Carney on stage at Davos — Canadian Prime Minister’s forceful speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos called on middle powers to unite against “a hegemon,” without directly naming the U.S. The speech underlined the widening diplomatic and trade rupture between Mexico’s USMCA free trade partners. (World Economic Forum)

Adding to economic developments, the Mexican peso strengthened to below 17.5 per U.S. dollar this week — its strongest level since 2024. Banamex economists predicted the “superpeso” could sustain strength for the next two years, offering a rare bright spot amid economic uncertainties.

Tourism and cultural promotion

Mexico took center stage at Madrid’s International Tourism Fair (FITUR) this week as the event’s partner country. The country’s comprehensive showcase featured all 32 states, with cultural performances including Oaxaca’s Guelaguetza and Michoacán’s Danza de los Viejitos drawing international attention. Mexican artist César Menchaca created a striking Huichol-inspired interpretation of Madrid’s iconic Bear and Strawberry Tree monument, placed prominently at Puerta del Sol.

FITUR was also the site of a significant diplomatic moment when Spanish King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visited Mexico’s fair pavilion — the first contact between the Spanish monarchs and Mexican officials since former President López Obrador’s 2019 demand for an apology for the Conquest. Sheinbaum characterized the visit as “symbolic,” noting the royals’ interaction with Indigenous representatives could help “heal wounds.”

FITUR also yielded concrete results for Mexican states, with Guanajuato Governor Libia García announcing that Air Europa will establish direct flights from Madrid to the Bajío International Airport starting this year. The new route is expected to strengthen international connectivity and boost European tourism to central Mexico.

The promotional effort aligns with the Sheinbaum administration’s ambitious goal of positioning Mexico among the world’s five most-visited destinations by 2040. However, this aspiration faces headwinds from stagnating domestic tourism, which saw essentially flat growth in 2025 after declining in 2024. Experts attribute the trend to a weakening economy, reduced household purchasing power and security concerns affecting certain destinations.

Domestic health initiatives

On the home front, President Sheinbaum announced plans during Tuesday’s press conference to issue universal health care identification cards to all Mexicans, representing a step toward integrating the country’s fragmented public health system. The cards will link to electronic medical records and allow citizens to identify their health care provider while facilitating future cross-institutional treatment.

An IMSS hospital — The National Social Security Institute (IMSS) is one of several public health systems in Mexico, along with the IMSS-Bienestar for Mexicans without employment-based social security, the ISSSTE for state workers and a handful of other public health organizations. (IMSS)

The registration process, costing approximately 3.5 billion pesos, will begin March 2 with 14,000 Welfare Ministry workers staffing registration modules nationwide. The initiative comes as measles continues spreading throughout all 32 states, with over 7,100 cases and 24 deaths reported in the past year despite vaccination efforts.

Judicial reform questions persist

Questions about Mexico’s controversial judicial reform resurfaced during Friday’s press conference in Veracruz when a reporter asked Sheinbaum whether the Supreme Court showed bias toward the ruling Morena party. The question followed an El Universal report finding that the newly elected Supreme Court — whose nine justices won their seats in Mexico’s first judicial elections last June — had ruled in favor of government-backed reforms at least six times without a single ruling against them. Sheinbaum deflected, saying the court itself would have to answer such questions, while noting that sessions were now public rather than conducted “in the dark” as before.

Weather and natural conditions

As the week ended, Mexico’s National Meteorological Service issued winter weather alerts for northern states, warning of the third major winter storm of the season. Border states including Baja California, Sonora and Chihuahua faced predictions of significant temperature drops, strong winds and heavy rainfall, with possible snow or sleet. The warnings coincided with a potentially historic winter storm system affecting the United States from the Texas Panhandle to the Northeast.

Looking ahead

As the USMCA review approaches, Mexico faces critical decisions about how to navigate an increasingly complex North American relationship. The week’s events — from prisoner transfers demonstrating cooperation to aviation alerts suggesting ongoing tensions, from FITUR’s diplomatic breakthroughs to Davos clashes threatening trade stability — illustrate the delicate balance required. The Sheinbaum administration must maintain sovereignty while strengthening partnerships essential to economic growth, all while addressing domestic challenges from public health to tourism sector weakness and adapting to shifting geopolitical realities where Canada pursues alternatives to U.S. dependence. The coming weeks will test whether Mexico can successfully walk this tightrope.

This story contains summaries of original Mexico News Daily articles. The summaries were generated by Claude, then revised and fact-checked by a Mexico News Daily staff editor.

Introducing Season 2 of the ‘Confidently Wrong’ podcast: Raising expat kids in Mexico

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Travis Bembenek

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January 24, 2026

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A father with two small children at Mexico City's Chapultepec palace — The second season of "Confidently Wrong" dives into the complicated, rewarding world of raising kids in Mexico. (Shutterstock)

Most everyone knows Mexico is a great place to retire — for decades now people from the U.S., Canada and beyond have been moving to the country. It’s hard to go anywhere nowadays, from the tiniest beach towns to the most remote mountain communities, and not find foreign retirees making Mexico their new home.

Since the COVID pandemic, younger digital nomads have also begun to flock to the country in increasingly greater numbers. Several neighborhoods in Mexico City have become ground zero for digital nomads, bringing with them the good and bad that comes with a sudden large influx of newcomers. But it’s not just Mexico City: Digital nomads have also settled in cities large and small throughout the country.

The Wingate School — School, community, family, culture — how does it all work for expat families raising children in Mexico? Parents, teachers and kids share their perspectives in this season of “Confidently Wrong.” (File photo)

So the country is now full of foreigners over 55 and under 35 … but what about those in between? The perception for most people has historically been that, as a foreigner, you can’t raise your kids in Mexico. I remember once hearing a foreign visitor expressing shock that the expat woman she was talking to had given birth to her children in Mexico. The expat sarcastically replied, “Believe it or not, Mexicans have babies too!”

So what about that perception? Is it “confidently wrong”? Is Mexico actually a viable place for foreigners to consider raising and schooling their kids? And if so, where? And at what ages? How is it similar or different from schooling in other countries? And how are expat kids schooled here different than their family and friends back home — socially, culturally and even emotionally?

It is with that background that we bring you the second season of “Confidently Wrong: Raising Expat Kids in Mexico.” Each episode of this season will dive into “confidently wrong” assumptions about raising and schooling kids in Mexico. We will bring you interviews with parents, teachers, administrators and kids. We will share their stories with you and you will hear, in their own words, what the experience was like.

We’re not doing vague hot takes or “Mexico is perfect” soundbites. We’re sharing what people wish they’d known, what surprised them, what was harder than expected, and what ended up being better than they imagined. You will hear it in their own words — how they chose schools, how kids adapted (or didn’t), what community looked like, and what they’d do differently if they started over.

This season is not meant to tell you that raising kids in Mexico is better or worse than in your home country. It is meant to inform, educate, entertain and help ensure that you are not making decisions based on “confidently wrong” assumptions. We have worked hard to bring you a very wide range of perspectives on the topic, and if you’ve ever even considered Mexico with kids, you’ll want to hear these conversations before you decide anything. Check out the first episode (available on Spotify here or YouTube here) in which we frame up what is coming in Season 2 — it’s going to be very fun!

Confidently wrong about raising kids in Mexico: The introduction - Season 2

Watch this video on YouTube

Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.

Mission days in old Los Cabos: the Franciscan Era

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Chris Sands

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January 24, 2026

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San José del Cabo mission in 1769 — Painting of the inhabitants of the San José del Cabo mission carrying the dead body of French astronomer Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche, who had come to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus. (Public Domain)

By February 1768, the Jesuits, expelled from Spanish dominions by King Carlos III for reasons that remain unclear — one theory was that a forged letter ostensibly from the Jesuits questioned the legitimacy of the king’s birth — were gone from the Baja California peninsula. However, any ideas of the hidden wealth of the Jesuits — another charge often made by their enemies — were quickly dispelled.

When Gaspar de Portolá, the new California governor, sailed into San José del Cabo on Nov. 30, 1767, “the soldiers, who had come with exaggerated notions about the wealth of the Jesuit missions, hastened to seize the treasures of Mission San José del Cabo; but, with the exception of the church ornaments, nothing of value was discovered,” wrote Zephyrin Engelhardt in his 1908 book on the Spanish missionary period, “The Missions and Missionaries of California: Vol. 1, Lower California.”

“They then proceeded to Mission Santiago and encountered the same poverty. Like all the Jesuits in the missions, Father (Ignacio) Tirsch of Santiago had not the least suspicion of what was coming, and no reason or opportunity for concealing anything. Portolá next took his men to the silver mines and convinced himself of their poverty, and the penury of those who feebly worked them.”

José de Gálvez and the shift in Franciscan focus

After a little more than 70 years of missionary work on the Baja California peninsula, the Jesuits had accumulated no wealth but had founded 17 missions and “saved many souls.”

The Franciscans, who replaced them, would remain in Baja California for only five years, establish only one mission — the Misión San Fernando Rey de España de Velicatá, about 35 miles southeast of El Rosario — and leave the peninsula’s missions even poorer than they already were.

The Franciscans were chosen as successors to the Jesuits by José de Gálvez, the visitador general, whose newly endowed authority had made him the most powerful man in Mexico (or Nueva España, as it was then known).

Gálvez arrived in July 1768 to reorganize the peninsula, unveiling his plans for California to the dozen or so Franciscan friars, led by Mallorcan Junípero Serra, who himself had only been in residence since April.

The most ambitious of these plans was the commitment to establishing missions in Alta California — now the U.S. state of California. How much of this shift in focus northward was influenced by the evident poverty of the missions in Baja California is unknown. However, by early 1769, land and sea expeditions were bound for San Diego. By July of that year, Serra had founded the first Alta California mission there. Serra would later found eight more missions in Alta California, an achievement for which he has since been controversially canonized as a saint by the Catholic church.

Junípero Serra spent only a year on the Baja California peninsula before committing himself to the founding of Alta California missions. (Public Domain)

Portolá, also integral to the expedition, saw his role as governor expand to include both Alta and Baja California.

How Baja California paid for the settlement of Alta California

Not everyone benefited from this northern focus, which by 1777 had seen the capital of Las Californias shift from Loreto in Baja California to Monterey in Alta California. To be blunt, the settlement of Alta California was largely paid for by looting the meager coffers of Baja California’s missions and squeezing money from the peninsula’s lone successful entrepreneur.

“To lessen the expenses for the proposed missions, Gálvez decided that the old establishments (the missions in Baja California) should aid in founding the new ones by donating vestments, sacred vessels and other church articles,” Engelhardt wrote. “From the inventories, he saw that all could assist a little, which, with what he had obtained from the extinguished missions, would supply at least three new missions. He himself proceeded to Todos Santos to collect what could be spared, and he directed Fr. Serra to do likewise on his trip to the north from all the missions, not excepting Loreto.”

Also contributing was the one rich man the peninsula had so far produced: former soldier Manuel de Ocio. After reaping some timely intel from Cochimí Indians about 400 pounds of pearls thrown onto a beach in Mulegé after a violent storm in 1740, Ocio retired from the Loreto presidio to found a mine at Santa Ana in 1748, a few miles south of the Baja California Sur mining towns that subsequently sprang up in San Antonio and El Triunfo.

Ocio’s mine wasn’t that impressive in terms of the amount of silver it produced, but by 1751, it had reached the limit necessary for him to register it with the Spanish crown and pay taxes. In addition to the workforce of 300 he acquired, many from the Mexican mainland, he also ran thousands of head of cattle and managed to buy 14 homes in Guadalajara as a real estate investment.

Gálvez, seeing that Ocio had what little wealth there was on the peninsula, established his headquarters at Santa Ana and ruthlessly pumped the mine owner to help fund the expedition to Alta California. Indeed, according to Harry W. Crosby’s definitive book, “Antigua California, Mission and Colony on the Peninsular Frontier, 1697-1768”:

Franciscan missions in the Californias — The desire of Franciscan missionaries to devote their efforts to missions in Alta California, like the one St. Junípero Serra founded in San Diego, had many negative consequences for Baja California. (H. Zell/Wikimedia Commons)

“Manuel de Ocio’s little empire provided the ship that made possible Portolá’s coming; the further use of his ships, his mules, mule drivers and stores made possible the prompt launching of the expedition to the north. Without that which was commandeered from Ocio, Gálvez’s plans would have had long setbacks. But Ocio received no thanks and ultimately no reward nor even the recompense promised by royal officials.”

As if that weren’t bad enough, two of Gálvez’s imported miners murdered Ocio in 1771 after robbing his storehouse.

Indigenous peoples and the disaster of Gálvez’s policies

If Ocio was ill-used by Gálvez, so, too, were the Indigenous peoples of the Baja California peninsula. Gálvez believed the Jesuits had coddled the Indians; he was intent on using them as a free labor source, including in the salt mines at Isla del Carmen, off the coast of Loreto.

“Gálvez made elaborate plans for the transformation of the California missions using Serra and the Franciscans as the agents for the changes he thought necessary,” author Dave Werschkul pointed out in “Saints and Demons in a Desert Wilderness: A History and Guide to Baja California’s Spanish Missions” (2003):

“Among Gálvez’s decrees were the reduction in the number of missions, elimination of the visitas (sub-missions), and the movement of Indians from one area to another to meet the labor requirements of the more productive agricultural areas. The results were a disaster. In 1769, one ranchería of 44 Indians was moved from San Javier to San José del Cabo. All but three died.”

The native inhabitants of Los Cabos, the Pericú, also saw their numbers continue to dwindle. In 1768, the year the Franciscans took over, there were 178 Indians at the Santiago mission under Fr. José Murguía and 70 at San José del Cabo, which had been raised back to full mission status under Fr. Juan Morán. Three years later, in 1771, those numbers were 70 and 50, respectively, or a total of only 120 throughout Los Cabos.

Pericú fisherman — One of the few extant illustrations of a Pericú, courtesy of George Shelvocke in his 1726 travelogue, “A Voyage Round the World by Way of the Great South Sea.” (Public Domain)

Likely, these were mostly still Pericú, although as noted above, Gálvez was not above importing Indigenous people from other parts of the peninsula to help facilitate agricultural production for the missions.

Disease remained the primary culprit for the diminished numbers. Many Indigenous people were killed by the 1769 epidemic that also killed Fr. Morán, as well as the French astronomer Jean-Baptiste Chappe d’Auteroche, who had traveled to San José del Cabo to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus, which he did successfully before his death.

The exact disease that decimated Indigenous numbers is not known. An outbreak of measles was known to have occurred that year, with typhus and yellow fever also conjectured.

The Franciscan era’s legacy in Los Cabos

The Jesuits had been careful to keep the population of Baja California restricted to missionaries, Indigenous and presidio soldiers. Some soldiers were married. Esteban Rodríguez Lorenzo, for example, one of the original 10 to land at Loreto in 1697, married María de Larrea on the mainland during a hiatus from his duties in 1707. They had seven children, the first true family of settlers on the peninsula. Rodríguez was also the first man permitted by the Jesuits to raise his own cattle.

But as local historian Pablo L. Martínez was quick to note in his “Guía Familiar de Baja California, 1700-1900” (1965), the first real secular community to arise on the peninsula came about because of the need for workers at Ocio’s mine. Santa Ana thus became a kind of cradle for early settlers, with some of the most esteemed Los Cabos families, such as the Cotas, arriving during this early period.

Gálvez, for all his faults, was the first to initiate a call for colonists.

Fr. Ignacio Tirsch illustration of early residents of Baja California Sur. — Fr. Ignacio Tirsch’s illustration of an early rancher in Baja California Sur. (Public Domain)

“Besides making strong efforts to improve the conditions of the natives, Gálvez paid special attention to the project of colonizing Lower California with Spaniards,” Engelhardt wrote. “On Aug. 12, 1768, he issued a decree setting forth the privileges offered to colonists and the regulations by which they were to be governed. Government lands were separated from mission lands and offered to Spaniards of good character on easy terms.

“The chief obligation was that the settlers would make improvements and pay a small annual tax to the king. The first to avail themselves of these advantages were discharged soldiers and sailors from Loreto, but there were few others before 1821.”

These discharged soldiers, sailors and their families, along with the workforce at Santa Ana, would form the roots of the communities that would eventually arise in San José del Cabo, Cabo San Lucas and elsewhere in the region now known as Los Cabos.

But, first, there was one more Catholic missionary order to come to the area — that of the Dominicans, who took over the missions in Baja California after 1773, when the Franciscans decided to concentrate their efforts solely on Alta California.

Chris Sands is the former Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best and writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook. He’s also a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily.

Mexican universities and the myth of global educational excellence

By

Monica Belot

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January 24, 2026

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UNAM campus Mexico City — UNAM in Mexico City is one of the nation's top universities. (Gomnrz/Wikimedia Commons)

Twenty years ago, as a high school student in the United States, mapping out my future, Mexican universities never crossed my mind. I lusted for the fancy schools on the U.S. East Coast — in New York City and Boston, or their glamorous European counterparts in London or Paris. The geography of prestige pointed north and east, never south.

I got my wish: New York University accepted me, and I spent several years immersed in the New York City scene, absorbing everything that an expensive American education promises: intellectual rigor, professional networks, the intoxicating energy of a global city.

It was a wonderful experience, but it broke the bank and sent me through the spiral of New York City extremes: late nights, hustling ambition, ruthless competition — and some intense partying. When I look at my student loan balance today, I can’t say there are no regrets.

Now, decades later, I find myself on the other side of the equation, as a college professor running a business in Mexico City. I’ve started asking questions I never thought to ask as a teenager: What does higher education look like here in Mexico? What is the price range? What programs are Mexican universities strongest in? How are schools here different from universities around the globe? And, perhaps most importantly, how are these schools regarded internationally and in the workplace?

The landscape of Mexican higher education

Mexico has 1,250 registered universities serving a nation of 128 million. At the apex sit institutions largely unknown to Americans but integral to Mexican society and Latin American academia.

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) is a giant: Founded in 1551, it’s one of the oldest universities in the Americas and enrolls over 350,000 students. Its brutalist architecture main campus, a UNESCO World Heritage site, sprawls across former lava fields in southern Mexico City. This is where Mexico’s presidents, intellectuals and Nobel laureates have been educated for generations.

Then there’s Tecnológico de Monterrey, known as “el Tec.” Founded in 1943 by Monterrey industrialists, it’s Mexico’s premier private university, with 26 campuses nationwide: Think Mexico’s Stanford, focused on innovation and entrepreneurship.

The Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), founded in 1936, serves as the public counterpart, specializing in engineering and technical fields. The Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM) in Mexico City focuses on social sciences and humanities. Private institutions like Universidad Panamericana and Anáhuac University cater to upper-middle-class families seeking Catholic educational values and smaller class sizes.

Tecnológico de Monterrey, known as “el Tec,” is Mexico’s premier private university. (Tecnológico de Monterrey)

Yet by global metrics, Mexican higher education remains invisible. Not a single Mexican university appears in the top 100 of the QS World University Rankings or the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2025–2026. UNAM has slipped to No. 136 on QS’s rankings. Tec de Monterrey ranks seventh in Latin America, but No. 187 worldwide. Compare this to MIT’s near-perfect scores or Oxford’s century-long prestige and the gap between Mexico’s universities and these academic titans seems unbridgeable.

The price of prestige

Undergraduate programs in Mexico paint an encouraging picture: UNAM charges a symbolic cuota of approximately 0.25 pesos (practically free) per year, plus minor fees like 490 pesos for the admission exam. For many Mexican students, it’s highly accessible. IPN operates similarly, with semester fees around 400 pesos, making technical education accessible to working-class families historically locked out of professional careers.

The private institutions tell a different story. Tec de Monterrey charges around 350,000 pesos (about US $19,600) annually; expensive by Mexican standards but accessible to the growing middle class via scholarships. Universities like Anáhuac and Panamericana reach around 150,000-200,000 pesos (about US $8,500–$12,000) per year.

Even at the high end, these prices seem quaint. A single semester at NYU now exceeds $60,000. Full cost of attendance pushes $90,000 annually.

This creates a paradox that global rankings can’t measure: accessibility versus prestige. While I was accumulating debt that takes decades to repay, Mexican students were earning degrees for a fraction of the cost. The question becomes: What is that prestige worth?

Why the rankings gap persists

The machinery of global university rankings operates on assumptions that favor wealthy, English-speaking institutions. Statistics such as research volume and the number of academic citations per faculty member carry enormous weight. Many of these metrics require sustained funding, international collaboration networks and publication in high-impact English-language academic journals. Mexican universities, operating with tighter budgets and publishing primarily in Spanish, find themselves automatically disadvantaged.

Universidad Panamericana, a Roman Catholic university in Mexico City, caters to Mexican students. (Universidad Panamericana)

Internationalization presents another barrier. Elite institutions assemble diverse student bodies and faculty from around the world. Mexican universities serve primarily Mexican students, a model that makes a great deal of sense for a national education system but reads as provincial in global metrics.

Reputation perpetuates existing hierarchies. Academic and employer panels recognize names they already know: Harvard, Oxford, the Sorbonne. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle where prestige begets prestige.

What rankings miss

Yet Mexico’s academic world reveals what rankings cannot capture. UNAM houses world-class researchers in fields from astronomy (it operates major telescopes) to anthropology (its scholars lead excavations of pre-Hispanic sites).

Tec de Monterrey has pioneered educational models focused on entrepreneurship and practical innovation, emphasizing problem-based learning and industry partnerships. IPN has educated generations of Mexican engineers from modest backgrounds who went on to lead the country’s industrial development.

These institutions serve their own societies in deeply impactful ways. They train the doctors, engineers, lawyers and teachers that keep a nation functioning. They conduct research on local problems — water management, earthquake engineering, Indigenous language preservation — that might not generate citations in international academic research but that matter to millions.

The broader question

This raises questions about how we value education globally. The rankings industry has created a monoculture of aspiration, where universities worldwide chase the same metrics, often at the expense of contributions to their local communities. These universities pour resources into attracting international students and faculty, into publishing in English, into research areas favored by citation indices, all to climb a few spots on a list that may or may not correlate with actual educational quality.

UNAM has educated Mexico’s presidents, intellectuals and Nobel Prize winners. (Consejo Mexicano de Ciencias Sociales)

Meanwhile, the debt crisis in American higher education continues to worsen. The average U.S. student now graduates owing nearly $30,000, and many owe far more, whereas a Mexican student who graduates from UNAM debt-free, with a solid education and connections to their country’s professional networks, may well have better long-term prospects than their American counterpart drowning in loan payments despite a degree from a “better” institution.

Looking forward

As I advise my own students now, I find myself questioning the assumptions I never thought to question at their age. The global higher education system measures international visibility but not local impact, research citations but not teaching quality, prestige but not accessibility.

Mexican universities may not currently crack the global top 100. But perhaps that says more about the limitations of our ranking systems than about the quality of education these universities provide. In a world increasingly questioning the sustainability of elite higher education’s cost structure, institutions that deliver quality education affordably might represent the future.

Monica Belot is a writer, researcher, strategist and adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design in New York City, where she teaches in the Strategic Design & Management Program. Splitting her time between NYC and Mexico City, where she resides with her naughty silver labrador puppy Atlas, Monica writes about topics spanning everything from the human experience to travel and design research. Follow her varied scribbles on Medium at medium.com/@monicabelot.

MND Tutor | Dinosaurios

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MND Plus

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January 24, 2026

0

Welcome to MND Tutor! This interactive learning tool is designed to help you improve your Spanish by exploring real news articles from Mexico News Daily. Instead of just memorizing vocabulary lists or grammar rules, you’ll dive into authentic stories about Mexican culture, current events, and daily

Mexico was once home to remarkable dinosaurs that roamed the land for over 170 million years. The northern regions, especially Coahuila, are rich with fossil discoveries. From terrifying beats soaring above the ground, to fearsome hunters stalking the forest, Mexico had several incredible species of dinosaur.

These prehistoric giants once dominated what is now Mexican territory before vanishing 66 million years ago. To discover more, why not check out Andrea Fischer’s original article?

To get started, choose your level of Spanish:

🌵 Choose your level of Spanish

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If we love trains, we need to love train expertise

By

Sarah DeVries

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January 24, 2026

9

Tren Suburbano AIFA — Mexico is going all in on trains. The people who live here probably should do, you know, for safety reasons. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)

A train track runs through both entrances to the colonia where my daughter goes to school. For a while, I took aerobics classes at a gym right in front of it after dropping her off; more days than not, a train would pass by, going pretty quickly.

Because there are only two entrances (and exits) to the colonia, things can get pretty congested. As vehicles wait on narrow streets for lights that will let them get back onto the main road, it’s common for a car to be waiting right on top of the tracks. We’re scrunched up, and people are impatient to get out of there. To make matters more dramatic, the lights for going straight or turning left are incredibly short; if not everyone’s paying attention, it’s perfectly possible for only three cars to make it out at a time.

Spot the crossing warning. (Sarah DeVries)

In case you’re wondering, let me put your mind at ease: no, there are no railway crossing gates. There might be a sign somewhere that indicates there’s a track there, but honestly, if there is it doesn’t stick out enough to be memorable.

Wait, I found it!

So how do you know a train is barreling down the tracks? Well, they’re usually pretty good at blowing the train whistle when they know they’re about to pass a highly-trafficked area. Also, you might see it if you turn your head. Those two indicators are about it.

Like many countries in the Americas, passenger train service was a big deal in the 19th and 20th centuries in Mexico. In 1937, President Lázaro Cárdenas nationalized Mexico’s train service, creating the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (the Mexican National Railroad).

Alas, the automobile increased in popularity and affordability as the 20th century wore on, and passenger trains became less and less utilized.

Regular passenger train service ended in Mexico with the 1995 Constitutional Railway Reform. According to Infobae, “The scarcity of public resources…and the conviction that state ownership did not guarantee better management of the sector” were the main arguments in favor of privatizing the railways. Private companies would improve the now pretty decrepit rail infrastructure in ways the government couldn’t (or wouldn’t) afford to. Those private companies, however, were only interested in maintaining freight service. It was the final nail in the coffin for passenger service.

Mexico’s original railraod system was effectively wound up in the 1990s. (La Voz)

Those students of more recent history, though, know that one of former President López Obrador’s (2018-2024) biggest goals was reviving passenger train travel. His two biggest signature projects in this area were of course the Maya Train and the Interoceanic Railroad.

Now, I’m on Team Train. Anything that helps get us to a point where more public transportation is available is, to me, a good idea. In a place absolutely stuffed to the brim with individual vehicles, it’s nice to know that the government is prioritizing opportunities to travel efficiently and quickly around the country. Every person on a train or a bus, after all, is one less stuck in traffic (well, a bus can get stuck in traffic, but you know what I mean).

How are the trains doing? Well…

Let’s set aside the recent derailment for a moment (we’ll get to it later, I promise).

The Maya Train is working, after having gone over budget and facing backlash from environmentalists and local communities. Well, what’s new? Most big projects in most places in the world take longer than they’re meant to and cost more than originally estimated. That part gets a resounding shrug from me. And of course, any project is always going to have its detractors; things will be lost when a big project that requires land comes to town. I’m not here to argue whether it’s a “net good” or a “net bad,” for now. It needs more evaluation time.

Is it making money? No, and likely won’t for a couple of decades. But you know, sometimes you just have to build it and hope they’ll come. After several decades of Mexicans having zero access to passenger train travel, it’s going to take a while for them to start considering it a real option. I mean at this point, a couple of generations of Mexicans have never been on a train at all. It could take some time to get people using it.

For Belize, where tourism generates 40% of GDP, a Maya Train connection could significantly boost the nation's economy. — (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)

It could especially take people a while to start using it if they think they might die when they’re on it.

I’m speaking now, of course, of the terrible end-of-year tragedy on the Interoceanic route that killed 13 people. (It was certainly not the only train-related accident of late. As Mexico regrows its railway system, accidents with other vehicles have been increasing).

We still don’t know exactly what happened. We do know, though, that some passengers perceived the train as going “extra fast” as it approached the curve. Was that it? I’m literally on the edge of my seat waiting for those results.

I have my suspicions, of course. Like many government projects — especially the “incorruptible” Morena ones — corners get cut and questionable decisions are made. (For some good reporting on how exactly, check out El País’s articles on irregularities both with the Maya Train and the Interoceanic Train.)

Sometimes it seems that asking Mexican politicians to not engage is corrupt behavior is like asking toddlers to hang out unsupervised in a candy shop and not eat anything. Really, what do we think is going to happen?

Also, can someone tell me what the freaking Navy knows about trains? Serious question.

The derailment happened as the train rounded a curve on Sunday morning near Nizanda, Oaxaca. — The derailment happened as the train rounded a curve near Nizanda, Oaxaca. (Especial/Cuartoscuro)

So if we want trains to regain their footing (or railing, as it were), what do we need to do? At least regarding this accident, Sheinbaum promised to “…look for the best certification body so that, if they make recommendations on what needs to be done about these curves or … to make the route safer, we can take them into account.”

Okay, good. Good start. Certification body. Might I suggest a certification body from…China? Japan? France? Really, just anywhere where they already have admirably functioning train systems in place? And then could they stick around and help us build out the system once what’s here already is fixed? At the very least, how about an exchange program: we send Mexican railroad engineers to China for a few years to learn from the best.

Because you can’t get people to trust you unless you prove yourself trustworthy. And unfortunately at this point, even those of us who really, really want to see these train projects succeed would be hesitant about boarding.

And for God’s sake, can we please get some of those automatic railway crossing gates? Maybe it’s just me, but I think drivers should be told pretty dramatically if they’re in danger of getting run over by a train. Then there are the bozos who think they’re Speedy Gonzalez and can outrun it that need to be physically stopped.

Passenger trains could be all over Mexico. But to get people to actually use them, they’ve got to have a reasonable assumption that getting close to or on them will not lead to death.

Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com.

Is Mexico’s Supreme Court biased? Friday’s mañanera recapped

By

MND Staff

-

January 23, 2026

2

President Claudia Sheinbaum at the podium of her morning press conference — A U.S.-hosted security training and recent criticism of the Supreme Court were topics of note at Friday's presidential presser. (Hazel Cárdenas / Presidencia)

President Claudia Sheinbaum held her Friday morning press conference in the port city of Veracruz, the largest city in the state of the same name.

During her engagement with reporters, Sheinbaum was asked about the alleged political leanings of the Supreme Court, while Security Minister Omar García Harfuch fielded questions related to the training a group of Mexican security personnel is currently undertaking in the United States.

Here is a recap of the president’s Jan. 23 mañanera.

A biased Supreme Court?

A reporter noted that the newspaper he works for, El Universal, reported this week that the “new” Supreme Court (SCJN) — whose bench is now made up of nine justices elected in Mexico’s first ever judicial elections last June — has handed down at least six rulings in favor of reforms and decrees promoted by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

He also stated that in the almost five months since the new justices were sworn in, the SCJN has not handed down any ruling against reforms or decrees sponsored by López Obrador or Morena, the party AMLO founded.

The reporter subsequently asked Sheinbaum whether she saw “any bias” toward Morena in Mexico’s Supreme Court, whose nine justices are affiliated with, seen as sympathetic to, or were at least tacitly supported by the ruling party in last year’s judicial elections.

The Mexican Supreme Court — Following last year’s judicial reform, Mexico’s Supreme Court is now made up of nine elected justices, several of whom are or are perceived to be affiliated with the Morena party. (Supreme Court)

The president responded that the Supreme Court itself would have to answer “those questions.”

She subsequently highlighted that the SCJN now holds “public sessions,” allowing Mexicans to get to know justices’ arguments in support of their rulings.

In the past, Sheinbaum added, decisions were taken “in the dark.”

The president also highlighted that the “previous court” — i.e. the SCJN before the justices elected last year were sworn in — “voted against everything,” a reference to various rulings it handed down against government initiatives during López Obrador’s presidency.

Published on Thursday, El Universal’s report could be cited by government critics as proof that the election of Supreme Court justices in a vote promoted by Sheinbaum — and largely boycotted by the opposition — has led to the elimination of a vital check on executive and legislative power, as they warned would occur.

However, one person who posted the article to social media opined: “Does the Supreme Court have to rule against the government to create justice?”

García Harfuch: Mexican security personnel were invited to undergo training in US

Six days after Mexican security personnel boarded a U.S. military plane at Toluca Airport to fly to the United States to undergo training, a reporter asked García Harfuch to comment on the kind of drills in which they would be participating.

The security minister first stressed that Mexican security personnel’s participation in training in the United States is not a new phenomenon, but rather something that has occurred for “many years.”

He said that the training takes place either after an invitation from a U.S. authority or upon the request of the Mexican government.

U.S. military plane in Toluca, Mexico — The U.S. Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules airplane was spotted at Toluca International Airport on Saturday, raising questions about what a foreign military aircraft was doing in Mexico. (X)

“It’s always been like that,” García Harfuch said.

He said that “in this case,” the United States Northern Command extended an invitation to Mexican security personnel to participate in “courses” focusing on “tactical specializations,” including “shooting” and “investigation.”

García Harfuch said that the Security Ministry personnel would stay in the U.S. for around 40-45 days.

Asked whether they were at a military base in the U.S., he responded: “Yes, it’s a base in Mississippi, I think.”

The arrival of the U.S. Air Force plane at Toluca Airport last Saturday came at a particularly sensitive time in the Mexico-U.S. security relationship as U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this month that the United States would begin targeting Mexican cartels on land. In addition, The New York Times reported on Jan. 15 that the United States was “intensifying pressure” on Mexico “to allow U.S. military forces to conduct joint operations to dismantle fentanyl labs inside the country.”

On Monday, Sheinbaum stressed that the U.S. Air Force plane wasn’t carrying U.S. troops or weapons. She assured reporters that the arrival of the plane in Toluca wasn’t in any way sinister, but rather a routine part of bilateral security cooperation.

However, the president did concede that it would have been better for the Mexican security personnel to have traveled to the United States on a Mexican Air Force plane rather than a U.S. one.

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

Former Olympic snowboarder, wanted in US for trafficking, arrested in Mexico

By

MND Staff

-

January 23, 2026

6

Ryan Wedding in custody — Ryan Wedding, a Canadian wanted in the U.S. for drug trafficking and murder during his 10 years in Mexico, is in custody in California after turning himself in Thursday to authorities in Mexico City. (Screenshot/from X)

Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, a reputed cartel-linked drug boss accused of overseeing a vast cocaine pipeline and dozens of murders, has turned himself in to authorities in Mexico.

After more than a decade on the run, Wedding, 44, was arrested Thursday night in Mexico City and flown to California, U.S. officials said.

Harfuch, Patel, Ronald Johnson — Mexico Security Minister Omar García Harfuch stands with U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson and U.S. FBI Director Kash Patel a day after the arrest of wanted trafficker Ryan Wedding, for which Patel was in Mexico. (CSSPC/Cuartoscuro.com)

A member of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, Wedding was sanctioned in November by the U.S. Treasury Department, which, along with other U.S. agencies, has collaborated with the Mexican government on the case.

Labeled an “extremely violent criminal,” he was said to be hiding in Mexico. At the time, a reward leading to his arrest and conviction was raised from US $10 million to US $15 million.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed this week’s arrest, saying Wedding faces charges that include drug trafficking, money laundering, murder and the killing of a federal witness.

Federal prosecutors say he ran a transnational network that moved semitrailer loads of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico to the United States and Canada — at times under the protection of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.

“This is a huge day for a safer North America, and the world, and a message that those who break our laws and harm our citizens will be brought to justice,” Patel wrote Friday morning on X.

At a news conference Friday in Ontario, California, he described Wedding as a “modern day Pablo Escobar” and “modern-day El Chapo” who “thought he could evade justice.”

Mexican officials said Wedding’s capture capped years of cooperation as authorities tracked his operations and his lavish life in hiding.

Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch wrote on X that Patel visited Mexico City on Thursday for meetings with federal security and prosecutorial agencies and then departed “taking with him two priority targets.”

The other person was referred to by Patel only by his last name, Castillo. According to law enforcement sources, that would appear to be fugitive Alejandro Castillo, another man among the FBI’s 10 most wanted for the 2016 murder of his ex-girlfriend in North Carolina.

Taken into custody in the state of Hidalgo, he allegedly crossed into Mexico two months after the murder but as of Friday was labeled as “captured” on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.

As for Wedding, U.S. and Mexican authorities say he lived in Mexico for more than a decade while directing a network that allegedly imported about 60 tonnes of cocaine a year into Los Angeles and supplied an estimated $1 billion in cocaine annually to Canada.

FBI Director Kash Patel announces the capture of Ryan Wedding, a former Olympian and accused drug lord, after years on the run.

“Just to tell you how bad of a guy Ryan Wedding is, he went from an Olympic snowboarder to the largest narco trafficker in modern times,” Patel said.… pic.twitter.com/GZgAFQqvd5

— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 23, 2026

Investigators say he did so while enjoying a “colorful and flashy” lifestyle, protected by cartel allies and supported by front companies and luxury assets scattered around Mexico City.

Mexican officials announced in December that they had seized about $40 million in high-end racing motorcycles linked to Wedding, along with luxury vehicles, artwork, drugs and two Olympic medals in raids across the capital.

Earlier, U.S. authorities had impounded a rare 2002 Mercedes CLK‑GTR hypercar valued at roughly $13 million.

Patel said the operation was the result of “tremendous cooperation and teamwork with the Government of Mexico,” singling out President Claudia Sheinbaum, García Harfuch and U.S. Ambassador Ron Johnson.

García Harfuch said the joint work, grounded in “respect and shared responsibility,” will continue to target violent groups affecting both countries.

Wedding, who competed in the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and finished 24th, is expected to appear Monday in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Authorities say he also faces separate Canadian drug trafficking charges dating to 2015.

With reports from El Universal, Associated Press and BBC

Opinion: Mexico could lose out as Canada risks USMCA with bet on ‘new world order’

By

Logan J. Gardner

-

January 23, 2026

17

Mexican President Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney — As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pushes back against Trump's attempts to expand U.S. influence, Mexico's access to North American markets could hang in the balance. (Presidencia)

Canada is betting against American dominance and Mexico may pay the price.

In the past week, Canadian Prime Minister Carney has struck “strategic partnerships” with China and Qatar and delivered explosive remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Signature of USMCA agreement in 2018 — Tensions are rising as the official review of the USMCA free trade agreement, signed in 2018, approaches. (Ron Przysucha/U.S. Department of State)

The consequences could be far-reaching.

At stake is the critical $1.9 trillion USMCA free trade deal. The continental free-trade agreement, which replaced NAFTA in 2020, undergirds much of North America’s economy.

This year, it has come up for review. With official negotiations slated to launch imminently, any action could derail the deal.

As USMCA review nears, Canada branches out

Carney’s whirlwind week began with a trip to Beijing, the first in nearly a decade by a Canadian Prime Minister. There, he announced a “landmark” trade deal with China — unfreezing relations with a country he called “Canada’s biggest security threat” last spring.

The deal, though limited in scope, is a symbolic shot at the U.S.

Canada will lower tariffs on electric vehicles, set in tandem with the U.S. two years ago, in exchange for agricultural market access as well as energy purchase and auto investment discussions.

More important than the deal, however, is its framing.

Carney called his trip to China the “foundation of a new strategic partnership” for the “new world order” — a phrase Chinese officials often use themselves to reference what they consider is American decline. “The multilateral system has been eroded,” he went on to say, and “coalitions of like-minded countries” with “focused areas of cooperation” can replace it.

He followed that with the announcement of another strategic partnership with Qatar, before delivering a forceful speech at Davos. Without naming U.S. President Donald Trump, Carney referenced American hegemony and accused “great powers” of using economic integration as weapons. The rupture, he said, in the “rules-based international order” will “not be restored.”

Leaders from around the world gave a standing applause.

Mark Carney in Davos: This is the speech of a statesman – a riposte to Trump and to western defeatism pic.twitter.com/57ptXIiDrD

— Lionel Barber (@lionelbarber) January 20, 2026

Having received advance notice of the China deal, Trump reacted immediately, first saying that the USMCA is “irrelevant,” then that the U.S. “doesn’t need Canadian products.” He didn’t walk back either comment.

A divorce seems unlikely for the U.S. and Canada: 75% of Canada’s exports still go to the U.S., while China is a distant second at 4%. However, any breakup’s collateral damage is likely just beginning.

Bad timing for Mexico

For Mexico, the timing couldn’t be worse. With the imminent launch of the USMCA review, the U.S., Canada and Mexico are set to renew, renegotiate, immediately terminate or sunset the free trade agreement.

Though it’s early days, a fifth option seems increasingly plausible: The current three-way agreement could fracture into bilateral deals.

While the USMCA is critical to all three countries, Mexico — both the most export-dependent and U.S. market-dependent, with 81% of all exports going to the U.S. — has the most to lose if the pact splinters. About 85% of all Mexican exports enter the U.S. duty-free because of the USMCA.

By comparison, 30% of all U.S. international trade is from the USMCA. For the United States, this does not amount to as much as Mexico; just 11% of U.S. GDP comes from exports. U.S. business leaders argue that exports alone fail to capture the USMCA’s value; for them, the supply-chain cost savings and integrated continental infrastructure create a major economic advantage for the United States.

Exported goods and services make up 35% of Mexico’s GDP, the most of any USMCA country.

Referencing this support among the American business community, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has so far remained optimistic on the deal’s review. “Those who most strongly defend the [USMCA] are American businesspeople,” she said.

Still, it may not matter.

Trump and his U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer have mulled breaking the USMCA into bilateral agreements since last year. The rationale is clear: Bilateral deals hand the U.S. significant leverage — even at the risk of costly supply-chain disruption.

Recognizing this, Canada is diversifying. Beyond China and Qatar, Carney has accelerated trade negotiations with ASEAN, Mercosur and at least 10 other countries. On offer are the energy superpower’s rich mineral resources, large domestic market with high per-capita spending, scaled logistics infrastructure, and a ready-to-invest coffer of funds.

Mexico lacks these advantages. American market access is a key pillar of Mexico’s value proposition, especially in a friend-shoring global investment environment. Capitalizing on this, Mexico has carefully aligned itself closer to the U.S. in recent years.

Those close U.S. ties may now backfire for Mexico.

What are Mexico’s options?

As Canada builds itself out, Mexico is finding itself increasingly locked in. After years courting Chinese manufacturers — notably BYD’s now-postponed $2 billion plant — Mexico raised tariffs on non-free-trade agreement countries (including China) up to 50%. Meanwhile, security cooperation with Washington continues to intensify.

As the USMCA review begins, expect the U.S. — flush with leverage — to demand more investment screening mechanisms, expanded security operations, stricter rules-of-origin, invasive labor provisions and even foreign policy alignment.

Mexico is now the top buyer of U.S. goods, beating out Canada

Already, the USMCA limits certain foreign policy moves; Article 32.1 restricts free trade deals with “non-market countries” — code for China. But newer U.S. deals go further, introducing “poison pills” that transform agreements “from purely commercial instruments into tools for managing partner countries’ broader foreign policy orientation,” according to analyst Simon Evenett of Global Trade Alert.

At Davos, Carney offered a framework for escape from this dynamic. “Middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” he said. “When we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon we negotiate from weakness. We compete with each other to be the most accommodating.”

“This is not sovereignty,” Carney concluded. “It’s the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.”

Mexico’s choice will be binary: Accept these sovereignty-limiting demands or lose American market access. While Canada can credibly threaten to walk away, Mexico cannot.

The tradeoff goes unstated. Does deeper U.S. integration bring greater prosperity? President Sheinbaum argues yes — North American unity is essential to “compete with China.”

Still, her rhetoric may not be enough.

“Remember, Mark,” Trump said on Wednesday, “Canada lives because of the United States.” Carney’s moves could still invite retaliation; the risks, for both Canada and Mexico, are sky-high.

As Carney walks his tightrope between Washington and Beijing, Mexico may find its options narrowing. The question is no longer if middle powers can chart their own course, but whether Mexico still has the choice.

Logan J. Gardner is a Wharton-educated content strategist, writer, photographer and filmmaker based in Mexico City. Sign up to receive his newsletter, Half-Baked, peruse his blog or follow him on Instagram for more.

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A biased Supreme Court?

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