Tariffs and trade war threats have thrust Marcelo Ebrard into the spotlight. Who is he? (Daniel Augusto)
With what appears to be the early stages of a trade war underway between Mexico and the United States, who is Marcelo Ebrard, the man tasked with responding to U.S. President Donald Trump?
With tariffs threatening some of Mexico’s key industries and the peso taking a punch from market volatility, the stakes are higher than ever. The second-most senior politician in the ruling Morena party, Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard will help President Claudia Sheinbaum to formulate a solution that will safeguard jobs, promote growth and protect Mexico from retaliation by its largest trading partner.
Who is Marcelo Ebrard, the man leading Mexico’s tariff response? #marceloebrard #donaldtrump
His career spans decades and several political alliances, including roles as Mexico City’s mayor as part of the former Democratic Revolution Party and later as Foreign Affairs Minister under previous President Andres Manuel López Obrador, with Morena.
In 2023, Ebrard unsuccessfully sought Morena’s presidential nomination, losing to Claudia Sheinbaum. Despite this, he would later join her cabinet as Economy Minister.
This year, there will be Women's Day marches held around Mexico on March 8. Find out where to join a march below. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
Hundreds of thousands of women are expected to flood streets across Mexico on Saturday for International Women’s Day, demanding gender equality and an end to violence against women.
In Mexico City, the 8M march,held annually on March 8, will begin at multiple points, including the Monument to the Revolution and the Fuente de la Diana Cazadora (Diana the Huntress Fountain).
March 8 has become a symbol of resistance and protest for women in a culture where they are often victimized. (Ángel Hernández/Cuartoscuro)
Leaving at various times between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., the contingents — organized by various feminist collectives — are set to converge around 2 p.m., creating a sea of purple-and-green-clad protesters advancing toward the city’s Zócalo.
Last year’s march in Mexico City had more than 180,000 participants — double the 2023 total — according to Pablo Vázquez Camacho, the minister of public security for Mexico City.
Though attendance figures for public events can vary greatly, there were various reports that last year’s event nearly filled the Zócalo, making it one of the largest Women’s Day marches in the world.
This year’s marches and demonstrations across the country will focus on several key issues, including access to safe and legal abortions nationwide, eradication of gender violence and justice for victims of femicide. Organizers are also calling for Mexico to take a stand against the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Find the International Women’s Day march happening in your city on March 8, 2025. (Michael Balam Chan/Cuartoscuro)
“You have to prepare yourself psychologically beforehand, because you really feel it all,” Brenda Hernández, a mother and cannabis activist, told the digital weekly Ojalá after last year’s march. “There’s so much love among everyone here but, at the same time, there’s a lot of vulnerability and anger.”
“It’s an incredible vibe,” Fernanda, a 25-year-old college student said in the same publication. “I feel so safe here with everyone, but it’s also so painful because we’re here because of rape and murder.”
In Mexico, statistics show that more than nine women are killed daily and thousands remain missing.
Organizers are emphasizing the march’s inclusive nature, welcoming trans women, non-binary individuals and allies — although some marches and rallies specifically exclude men. Others marching will include people with disabilities, searching mothers and Indigenous peoples.
In Mexico City, groups of marchers will be led by collectives such as We R Women on Fire, the Violet Gang and Informed Women CDMX.
Aguascalientes' low profile makes it overlooked as a tourist destination, but it'll keep you coming back. (Comisión Mexicana de Filmaciones/CC BY 2.0)
Of all the major cities in Central Mexico, Aguascalientes was one of the last my husband and I visited, mainly because we’d heard it was large and industrial. When we finally made it there in 2020, we weren’t expecting much. Barry and I have since decided the city needs to do a far better PR job: it’s now our favorite Mexican city outside Guanajuato, where we live part of the year.
Unlike Querétaro, Aguascalientes city isn’t surrounded by wine country, and unlike San Luis Potosí, it doesn’t have the nearby majestic beauty of the Huasteca. But that also means it isn’t crammed with tourists. In fact, it was only last month, during our third visit that we finally spotted other foreigners in Aguascalientes, a Canadian couple.
Aguascalientes was founded in the 16th century as part of the Kingdom of New Galicia. (Carl Nebel)
We keep going back, and here’s why.
Plaza de la Patria
Aguascalientes’ ample, people-friendly central square is dominated by large fountains, benches and a huge cathedral that dates to 1704. It also boasts the Patio de las Jacarandas, an innovative public art piece built for the 100th anniversary of the Aguascalientes Convention that recreates the Portal de Jesús, a colonial-era arcade.
The traditional barrios
On our first visit to the city, we went to the helpful local tourism office and picked up a map of the barrios of Aguascalientes, each with its own church and garden. The first we visited was the Encino neighborhood, where we checked out the Templo del Encino, dedicated to the Black Christ of the oak tree. Nearby is the José Guadalupe Posada museum, named for the famous Mexican caricaturist who created La Catrina, Mexico’s emblematic grinning skeleton cartoon.
Later we checked out the neighborhood of Guadalupe, with its baroque Templo de Guadalupe and garden full of ash and poplar trees. Nearby are the city’s oldest cemeteries, De la Cruz and Los Angeles. We love wandering around gravestones, and both cemeteries feature paintings, ironworks and sculptures made from marble and the local pink cantera stone.
The entrance to the Jardín de San Marcos. (Luisalvaz/CC BY SA-4.0)
Walking west from the cathedral about 15 minutes, is the Jardín de San Marcos, one of our favorite outdoor spaces in all of Mexico, which we return to repeatedly. Visitors enter through a huge gate flanked by a low wall with ornamental columns that surround the entire park. The garden is graceful and shady, lined with trees, pathways and benches. This neighborhood is one of the best known in Aguascalientes due to its status as home to the Feria Nacional de San Marcos, which attracts visitors from all over the world and is held in April and May.
Climb El Picacho
This eight-thousand-foot-high hill, also called the Cerro del Muerto, is about 20 minutes north of the city, on the way to the Pueblo Mágico of Calvillo. You can climb a steeper, shorter route to the top or a longer, more gradual route that goes behind the peak. A small entrance fee is charged.
Midweek, there’s no one there, but the last time we visited was during a three-day weekend, and on Monday, hordes of adults, kids and dogs, were hiking. Our taxi driver told us that the Sunday or holiday tradition is to climb the peak, then go home for a lunch of borrego, or barbecued lamb.
Visit Aguascalientes’ museums
I enjoyed the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, where I chatted with a staff member, hearing all about his divorce, his three adult children and his interest in learning danzón, a slow, measured partner dance originally from Cuba but popular in Mexico. “I married at 17,” he said. “Too young?” I asked. He nodded ruefully.
The Museo Ferrocarrilero, Aguascalientes’ former passenger train stop. (Gobierno de Aguascalientes)
Because we love trains, we had to visit theMuseo Ferrocarrilero, located in Barrio de la Estación, where we learned about the region’s history as a major railway hub, admiring the restored train station and the variety of historic and modern train cars, including the former presidential car of Lazaro Cardenas, who served as Mexico’s president from 1934 to 1940.
On the way to the train museum, we visited the Templo de San Antonio, an architectural jewel and one of the city’s most important historic edifices. Built between 1895 and 1908 in a pastiche of styles, it has neoclassical, Baroque, Gothic, Moorish and Russian features. It also has a double-stained glass dome, three towers and vaulted ceilings.
Try the hot springs
During our visit in January of 2023, the hot springs which gave the city its name were disappointing: they weren’t very hot. We were told they were hotter in some months than others, but reading online, I saw other complaints that they were lukewarm. In the hot season, you might enjoy the tepid temperature.
Calvillo, the self-proclaimed Guava Capital of the World, is a Magical Town full of culture and tradition. (Meagan Drillinger)
Explore Calvillo
The Pueblo Mágico of Calvillo is about 45 minutes from Aguascalientes. It boasts a Christ the Redeemer statue on top of a set of steep steps and the Museo Nacional de los Pueblos Mágicos, the only museum in the country dedicated to preserving and showcasing the folklore, traditions and crafts of the 177 towns that make up the Pueblos Mágicos program.
Most notable about the town, though, is its signature agricultural product. Billing itself as the Guava Capital of the World, Calvillo is home to over 4,500 guava producers, and pastries and other treats made with guava are sold all over town.
Three times so far, and counting
We know we’ll be back. Besides loving the parts of the city we’ve already seen, we know there’s always something else to explore. For example, we just learned that Aguascalientes is the most bicycle-friendly city in the country, so we’ll rent bikes next time. And we always appreciate the city’s friendly and unpretentious people.
Louisa Rogers and her husband Barry Evans divide their lives between Guanajuato and Eureka, on California’s North Coast. Louisa writes articles and essays about expat life, Mexico, travel, physical and psychological health, retirement and spirituality. Her recent articles are available on her website, authory.com/LouisaRogers
Google's choice to rename the Gulf of Mexico, following an order by U.S. President Trump declaring it the Gulf of America, sets a puzzling precedent for modern-day map making. (NOAA)
Can we expunge history by changing names on a map?
Borders on our current world map have shifted in the past in response to new geo-political realities, some reaching back into old vocabulary to name the new realities. Such changes make our world globes feel hopelessly outdated.
For example, the fading Rand McNally globe in my living room embarrassingly dates itself with the yellowing territory of the German Democratic Republic to the right of West Germany and casts the net of the USSR over former Soviet republics. Today’s updates to the cartographic worldview respond to treaties and armistices, but most importantly, they represent a consensus among world powers.
Casting about too rashly for new names, however, makes for a hasty pudding.
After mapmakers in 1507 first attached the label America to a massive world map printed in France, they began to have serious misgivings about their choice of words. A mere six years later, that same print shop ceased printing maps using that title.
Unlike Columbus who had sailed before him, the Florentine merchant Amerigo Vespucci seemed alert to the fact that he had bumped into a world new to Europe, a fourth part of the world. It was his understanding of this previously unmarked territory as a “new” continent that pushed Vespucci ahead of Columbus on the printmaker’s list of eligible candidates for names. But the rash decision to name a spit of land in the Atlantic after Amerigo was a choice difficult to undo.
Words on maps, it turned out, had sticking power.
The earliest chart printed in Europe of the Gulf formerly known as Mexico didn’t give that inlet a name. In the document that features it, the semicircular squiggle is hardly recognizable as the gulf we know today from maps. We recognize the tip of Cuba that intervenes between the peninsulas of Florida and the Yucatan. Almost eclipsed by the intricate image to its right, the rudimentary sketch of the gulf appears as a mere appetizer to the entrée provided by the aerial view of Mexico City next to it. The primary objective of the Gulf chart is to show us a region newly surveyed by Europeans as an area of interest for empire building.
Hernán Cortés, “Praeclara Ferdinandi Cortesii de noua maris oceani Hyspania…” (Newberry Library, Chicago)
The city in the center of the so-called “Cortés Map of Tenochtitlán” both projects an ideal view of the Aztec capital prior to its 1521 destruction and foreshadows Habsburg claims on the territory. This fantasy was printed in Nuremberg in 1524 as part of a letter addressed to Charles V from Hernán Cortés, a conquistador steeped in delusions of grandeur.
Cortés included this map in the letter to stroke the ego of the emperor and proclaim this territory for himself and for Spain. It was a vision built on a program of shamelessly co-opting other peoples’ possessions.
Paradoxically, the map showcases Aztec ingenuity in building temples, sculptures, canals, causeways, and expansive plazas to tout its magnificence. The exotic menagerie of the Aztec emperor Moctezuma, as well as his grand villa, are pictured here as if frozen in time. For, over this orderly and stable city, a Habsburg flag waves to announce the dawning of a new era of ownership, matching the claims that emerge in the inscription over the gulf: “This world, once outstanding and most glorious, has been subjected to Caesar’s rule.”
As Google renames the Gulf of Mexico, it reprises the older map’s negotiation of fact and fiction, a liminal state that modern cartography strives to avoid.
We invest transnational authority in our modern maps, we bring them to the table for treaties, teach our children geography with them and perhaps most importantly, use them to navigate. Do the name-givers understand that arbitrary decisions will flummox schoolchildren, confuse scholarship and bedevil cartographers for some time to come?
Do they aim to amplify the regrets that many already have about the naming of the Americas? There are icebergs here; we should proceed with caution.
Stephanie Leitch, Professor of Art History at Florida State University, publishes books about the history of early modern printmaking. Her books include Early Modern Print Media and the Art of Observation: Training the Literate Eye (Cambridge University Press) and Mapping Ethnography in Early Modern Germany (Palgrave).
Baja California's wine industry is finally getting the recognition it deserves, along with some of the pioneering women who made it all possible. (Casa Zamora)
More than a recent trend, this reality is slowly becoming tradition. But who are the women of Valle de Guadalupe and how did they become masters of their craft?
Laura Zamora: Matriarch of winemaking
Laura Zamora has been in the wine game for almost 50 years and now runs her own winery, Casa Zamora. (Casa Zamora)
If there is a matriarch to be found in Mexico’s premiere wine country, it’s Laura Zamora, who has been working in the industry for the past 48 years. Now head of her own project, Casa Zamora, she started at Santo Tomás winery as a lab tech when she was only 17 and worked her way up to head winemaker. She was the first woman in the entire country to manage a winery of that size. Zamora has a record number of liters of wine under her belt, a status rivaled only by two other winemakers in Baja, both men.
“I spent a lot of years doing grunt work under other winemakers, doing the work without getting the credit because I was a woman,” Zamora says, “A Uruguayan friend in the industry told me once, ‘Laura, you have everything against you: you don’t have a degree, you’re Mexican and you’re a woman.’ So, I thought, the only thing I can change is studying to get my degree; the other two things are permanent.”
So she studied while working, earning a degree as a lab tech in 1977, a bachelor’s in Gastronomy in 2019 and finally a master’s in Oenology in 2022. She thrived because she was curious, because she had the good fortune to be trained by several world-class winemakers, and because she shut out the rest of the world.
Cristina Pino: Doctor of the vine
Cristina Pino is Zamora’s successor at winemaker Santo Tomas. (Vinetur)
Today, there’s a veritable sisterhood of winemakers in Baja. This group includes Cristina Pino, who took over for Zamora when she retired from Santo Tomas in 2019. Pino came from Spain 14 years ago and has one of the most impressive resumes of any winemaker in the region: bachelor’s degrees in Oenology and agricultural engineering, a Ph.D. in Oenology and a master’s degree in Viticulture. As laboratory head at Mexico’s second-largest vineyard, Pino is ensuring that many women will follow in her footsteps.
“My teams generally have always had lots of women in them,” Pino says. “I think we work really well together. We’re more practical, more direct, clearer, we don’t have our heads in the clouds. I always have women on my teams, from processing all the way up to operations. To see them really integrated into the team makes me really happy.”
Eileen Gregory: Champion of sustainability
Eileen Gregory and her husband Jim, co-founders of Vena Cava. (Please the Palate)
Outside of mega-vineyards, many of the area’s small but important boutique wineries are also run by women. While Eileen Gregory’s husband Phil is the official winemaker of their vineyard Vena Cava, the place couldn’t run without her. They have an 8-room bed-and-breakfast, a massive organic garden, and, as of a few years back, a full-fledged restaurant on the property as well.
Eileen has been fundamental in shaping the way winemakers in Valle de Guadalupe think about sustainability since she moved here 20 years ago. Not only was the couple’s entire property built sustainably from the very beginning, Eileen has been organizing eight years of sustainability workshops for local winemakers and others interested in taking better care of Valle. She has also been one of the driving forces behind the Very Good Food Foundation, which helps local schools create school gardens to teach children about sustainable agriculture.
“When we first arrived, none of the men I spoke with would even acknowledge what I said without checking with my husband to ensure he was in agreement with my comments,” Gregory says, “Fast forward to now and it is very common to see women running businesses and being treated with the respect they deserve.”
“Women are much more likely to experiment and create products and spaces that are attractive, innovative and welcoming,” Gregory tells me, adding that women in Baja have reshaped the way wine is made here too, “Twenty years ago, it was largely only men in Mexico who drank wine and they tended to only drink full-bodied reds made from well known grapes. When women started drinking wine, whites, rosés and sparkling wines became tremendously popular. Women in the business of winemaking were the first to see, encourage and act on the new opportunity.”
Maria Cantarero: Philosopher of the grape
Maria Benitez Cantarero (second from left) discusses her work as part of the Berry Good Food panel. (Berry Good Food)
María Benítez Cantarero, who also started a second life with her husband when they moved here 10 years ago from Mexico City, is the powerhouse behind Clos de los Tres Cantos, the couple’s winery. She has meticulously chosen the varietals that they grow based on deep research of their land, in addition to incorporating regenerative agricultural practices like building a wetland at the base of their grape fields and planting trees and native species alongside their vines.
María says that since moving to Mexico from Madrid she’s been lucky to work for companies where gender equality was important and has faced few barriers as a woman in business here. But, she laughs, waiters still bring the wine to her husband to taste, even though of the two she has infinitely more wine knowledge. She agrees things are changing in the region, “if nothing else because there are lots of women in Valle, young women, now making wine.”
Kris Magnussen: Developing Valle from a woman’s perspective
Kris Magnussen found that Baja California not only held incredible wine, but also an incredible community. (Vinos Lechuza/Facebook)
One of those younger women is Kris Magnussen, whose family has been running Lechuza winery for the last 23 years. A single mom in her 40s originally from San Diego, California, Magnussen took over complete management of the winery when her father passed away in 2017. She says she could have never survived those first several years on her own without the community that embraced her.
“I don’t know what it is about Valle de Guadalupe, but it attracts another caliber of human being. I remember after my father passed, having the level of outreach from people saying what do you need, how can I help, how can I make sure that this isn’t your end. Nobody had to do that for me. I’m an immigrant, you know? I could have easily faded away and have been just a blip on the radar.”
Magnussen believes that the leading women of the valley are looking at development — their own and the region’s — in a unique way.
“There is such a huge lead of women right now,” she says, “and I think women have this beautiful, maternal aspect in which we are trying to incorporate sustainable business practices, not just farming practices. We’re looking out for future generations, encouraging higher education, we’re trying to build the community around us to support us so we’re not alone, and in return there’s a lot of grace. [We’re asking:] how can we make sure that our footprint is bigger in regards to the success as a region rather than just our own personal gain?”
Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based out of Mexico City. She has been published widely both online and in print, writing about Mexico for over a decade. She lives a double life as a local tour guide and is the author of “Mexico City Streets: La Roma.” Follow her urban adventures on Instagram and see more of her work at mexicocitystreets.com.
During her Tuesday press conference, Sheinbaum stressed the illogical nature of the U.S. imposing tariffs on Mexico. Mexico is the United States' top trade partner, and many "Mexican goods" are made with U.S. parts, she said. (Gustavo Alberto/Cuartoscuro)
There is no “reason” or “justification” for the imposition of tariffs, given the actions the Mexican government has taken against organized crime over the past five months.
The “opioid use crisis” in the United States “began with the irresponsible approval” of prescription drugs by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Mexico has “decided to respond” to the tariffs with its own “tariff and nontariff measures” that she will announce Sunday.
She was certain that “together we will get through this.”
President Sheinbaum pointed out at her daily press conference Tuesday that the tariffs were going into effect despite the USMCA trade pact, which President Donald Trump signed in 2018. (Wikimedia Commons)
Sheinbaum also said that her government “emphatically denies and categorically condemns” the “offensive, defamatory and baseless statement” in which the White House claimed that “the government of Mexico has afforded safe havens for the cartels to engage in the manufacturing and transportation of dangerous narcotics.”
By not announcing Mexico’s retaliatory measures until Sunday, the president buys herself time to perhaps reach a deal with Trump this week.
‘What will happen with this? Products will become more expensive’
“In other words, a very significant part of what people in the United States consume, particularly cars, are made here,” she said.
“But these exports have to do with trade and productive integration [in North America]. … It’s not that complete cars are made here and exported to the United States,” Sheinbaum said, highlighting that many parts that go into a finished Mexican-made vehicle are imported from the U.S.
“There is very significant economic integration that has occurred [between Mexico and the U.S.] throughout the last 40 years,” Sheinbaum said. (Gustavo Alberto/Cuartoscuro)“There is very significant economic integration that has occurred throughout the last 40 years, and particularly in the latest period … [because] after the pandemic, a lot of companies that were in China decided to come to Mexico and set up here, or companies already in Mexico decided to increase their capacities,” she said.
“… This idea that jobs are only created here is not correct,” Sheinbaum added.
“They are created on both sides [of the border] precisely due to this [economic] integration. What’s going to happen now? The United States imposes a 25% tax on all Mexican exports without distinction. What does that mean? That what is produced here will cost 25% more when it goes to the United States,” she said.
“If we implement the same return tax it will cost another 25%,” Sheinbaum said, referring to products that cross the border during the production process.
“And sending it back [to the U.S.] again, another 25%. What will happen with this? Products will become more expensive,” she said.
Tariff situation could change as early as Wednesday
Sheinbaum told reporters that she will speak to Trump by telephone sometime later this week.
Asked when the call would happen, she responded “probably Thursday.”
The Mexican government is of course seeking to have Mexico’s tariffs lifted by the United States very soon.
It remains to be seen whether that will happen, but United States Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox Business on Tuesday afternoon that he believes Trump will “work something out” with Mexico and Canada vis-à-vis the 25% tariffs he imposed on their exports on Tuesday.
President Trump is getting deals done for the American people. “Both the Mexicans and the Canadians were on the phone with me all day today, trying to show that they’ll do better and the President is listening.” Stay tuned!
Howard Lutnick’s interview by Fox Business on Tuesday, in which he hinted at the U.S. being willing to consider compromising on tariffs on Mexico.
“It’s not going to be a pause … but I think he’s going to figure [something] out, you do more and I’ll meet you in the middle some way, and we’re probably going to be announcing that tomorrow,” he said.
“So somewhere in the middle will likely be the outcome — the president moving with the Canadians and Mexicans but not all the way,” Lutnick said, apparently indicating that Trump could reduce the rate of tariffs on Mexican and Canadian exports.
‘We have to respect President Trump even though we don’t agree with a lot of decisions he makes’
Sheinbaum said that her government is duty bound to “respect President Trump.”
“He was elected, elected by his people, and it’s up to us to respect him, even though we don’t agree with a lot of decisions he makes, particularly those that affect Mexico,” she said.
“But we always seek dialogue, coordination, always. Regardless of the issue, we have to seek coordination,” Sheinbaum said.
Coparmex President Juan José Sierra Álvarez. "Free trade and regional integration are the keys to our joint future with our partners to the north," the organization said Tuesday on the social media platform X. (Victoria Valtierra/Cuartoscuro)
Prominent Mexican business organizations have decried the U.S. government’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods while also lamenting the threat of reciprocal tariffs in April, saying the actions will weaken North American competitiveness.
U.S. President Donald Trump made official the 25% levy on Monday night, prompting Tuesday’s public statements from AmCham Mexico (an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) and the Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex).
Un futuro próspero se construye con certeza.
Los aranceles son contraproducentes para nuestro sistema de coproducción regional. Ahora es el momento de redoblar esfuerzos para fortalecer a Norteamérica.
— American Chamber/Mexico (@AmChamMexico) March 4, 2025
In a social media post, AmCham called tariffs “counterproductive to our regional coproduction system,” suggesting that they “threatened the region’s future prospects” by causing uncertainty.
In a press release, AmCham said, “The United States, Mexico and Canada have built a strong and competitive regional economy … [driving] growth and job creation.”
The tariffs put all of this at risk, AmCham said, insisting the policy would backfire. Instead, it argued, the three economies “should build on a winning formula that strengthens North America’s position as the world’s most dynamic economic bloc.”
AmCham also urged a strong public response to the tariffs.
“Now is the time to redouble our efforts to strengthen North America,” it said, adding, “Now is the time to double down on cooperation, stability and shared prosperity.”
In its own press release, Coparmex lamented the tariff decision, calling it “a step backward in trade relations and an act that will weaken North American competitiveness.”
Luis de la Calle, who was a negotiator for Mexico for NAFTA. In a recent newspaper interview, he advised President Sheinbaum that the U.S.’s new tariff policy is unsustainable. (Union Pacific)
Coparmex also said Trump’s action “contradicts the principles of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and will generate uncertainty in key economic sectors … The disruption of strategic sectors risks disintegrating North American productivity.”
The Mexican federation also warned that the decision “will provoke recession in Mexico and high inflation in the U.S.”
Former NAFTA negotiator weighs in
Luis de la Calle, an Economy Ministry official during both the Ernesto Zedillo (1994–2000) and Vicente Fox (2000–2006) administrations, urged the Sheinbaum administration to remain calm, arguing that Trump’s tariff policy “is unsustainable.”
In an interview with media organization La Silla Rota, de la Calle said the tariffs are unlikely to last long, so the Mexican government should focus on “preserving [the USMCA] and the possibility of [North American] integration.”
De la Calle — a member of the Mexican delegation that negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement in the early 1990s, the predecessor of the USMCA — called on Sheinbaum to be calculated and calm in negotiations with Trump. Coincidentally, this is the strategy the Mexican president has relied upon throughout the past month, which has won her praise for her diplomacy.
Catherine Stetson, lawyer for the Mexican government, told the Supreme Court that "Mexico's complaint pleads that [U.S. gun manufacturers] aided and abetted violations of specific federal gun laws and that those violations proximately caused Mexico's harm." (Arturo Pérez Alfonso/Cuartoscuro)
The United States Supreme Court appears set to rule in favor of two American gun companies in their bid to have a Mexican government lawsuit against them dismissed.
On Tuesday, Supreme Court justices heard arguments in an appeal by gunmaker Smith & Wesson and firearm distributor Interstate Arms.
They are opposed to an appeal court’s ruling in January 2024 that the Mexican government’s US $10 billion lawsuit could proceed on the grounds that “Mexico’s complaint plausibly alleges a type of claim that is statutorily exempt from the … general prohibition” of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).
The Mexican government wants the opportunity to prosecute its case against Smith & Wesson and Interstate Arms in a U.S. court of law.
Other gun companies sued by the Mexican government have already succeeded in having the accusations against them thrown out.
NBC News reported that during oral arguments on Tuesday, “both conservative and liberal justices seemed skeptical of the arguments made by Mexico that its claims could move forward despite a federal law” — the PLCAA — being “intended to shield gun companies from liability.”
The Hill reported that the case “has become a major battle over the scope of the” PLCAA, “which has provided broad immunity to gunmakers for two decades despite gun control activists’ attempt to repeal it.”
An estimated two million firearms have crossed the U.S. border into Mexico since 2013. (Cuartoscuro)
In a statement, Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said that “Mexico respects the right of the American people to self-govern and reiterates that this case is not about the Second Amendment or Americans’ right to bear arms.”
“The lawsuit focuses on the illicit trafficking of weapons to Mexico as a consequence of the manufacturers’ irresponsible practices,” the ministry said.
A ruling in the case is expected by the end of June, Reuters reported.
Key aspects of Mexico’s lawsuit
In its 2021 lawsuit, the Mexican government accused Smith & Wesson, Colt and other U.S. gunmakers of deliberately selling guns to dealers who supply the firearms to criminals in Mexico.
Mexico accused the companies of “aiding and abetting” violations of United States law.
Mexico accused gunmakers of designing and manufacturing weapons that appeal to cartel members. Colt, for example, has manufactured a pistol embellished with an image of Emiliano Zapata, a hero of the Mexican revolution.
Mexico also accused gun companies of “unlawfully designing and marketing their guns as military-grade weapons to drive up demand among the cartels,” Reuters reported.
The Mexican government claimed that gun violence fueled by firearms smuggled into Mexico from the United States has resulted in a decline in investment and economic activity in Mexico. It also said that it has had to incur unusually high costs on services such as health care and law enforcement due to gun violence in Mexico.
In addition to monetary damages, Mexico is seeking a court order requiring Smith & Wesson and Interstate Arms to take steps to “abate and remedy the public nuisance they have created in Mexico.”
Mexico’s legal team, NBC News reported, “is focusing on a narrow exception to the [PLCAA] liability shield, which allows a lawsuit to go forward if a company has ‘knowingly violated’ a gun law and if that violation was a cause of the harm alleged in a lawsuit.”
“At issue,” Reuters reported, “is whether Mexico’s suit should be dismissed under a 2005 federal law called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act that broadly shields gun companies from liability for crimes committed with their products — or whether the alleged conduct of the companies falls outside these protections, as the lower court found.”
“… The gun companies have argued that they have done nothing more than make and sell lawful products,” the news agency said.
Guns reach Mexico by means of “ant-trafficking,” a cross-border firearm trafficking phenomenon that involves discreet movement of small quantities. (Rashide Frias/Cuartoscuro)
What did the lawyers argue on Tuesday?
Catherine Stetson, lawyer for the Mexican government, told the Supreme Court that “Mexico’s complaint pleads that Petitioners aided and abetted violations of specific federal gun laws and that those violations proximately caused Mexico’s harm.”
“That satisfies PLCAA’s predicate exception,” she said.
“First, the complaint details that Petitioners deliberately supplied the illegal Mexican market by selling guns through the small number of dealers that they know sell a large number of crime guns and who repeatedly sell in bulk to the cartel traffickers. Petitioners’ arguments ignore these allegations,” Stetson said.
She also said that the Supreme Court “need not vouch for Mexico’s allegations, but it must assume they are true.”
“Mexico should be given a chance to prove its case,” she said.
Noel Francisco, lawyer for Smith & Wesson and Interstate Arms, said that Mexico’s “theory is that federally licensed manufacturers sell firearms to licensed distributors, who sell to licensed retailers, a small percentage of whom sell to straw purchasers, some of whom transfer to smugglers, who then smuggle them into Mexico, hand them over to cartels, who in turn use them to commit murder and mayhem, all of which requires the government of Mexico to spend money.”
Mexico’s lawsuit argues that Smith & Wesson, Barrett Firearms, Colt’s Manufacturing Company and Glock Inc, among other gun makers, knew their business practices caused illegal arms trafficking to Mexico. (Shutterstock)
“Needless to say, no case in American history supports that theory, and it’s squarely foreclosed by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act,” he said.
Francisco, a former solicitor general of the United States, also told justices that “if Mexico is right, then every law enforcement organization in America has missed the largest criminal conspiracy in history operating right under their nose, and [brewer] Budweiser is liable for every accident caused by underage drinkers since it knows that teenagers will buy beer, drive drunk and crash.”
The lawyer, Reuters reported, “cited a legal principle called proximate cause involving when an action brings about a legal injury.”
Francisco argued that the accused gun companies were not the proximate cause of the harm claimed by the Mexican government.
In its lawsuit, Reuters said, “Mexico must show that the gun companies were the proximate cause of their harms, in addition to showing that the companies aided and abetted illegal gun sales and marketing, to sidestep the 2005 law’s general bar on suits against American gun companies for the criminal misuse of their products.”
What did the Supreme Court justices say?
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh told Stetson that “lots of sellers and manufacturers of ordinary products know that they’re going to be misused by some subset of people.”
“They know that to a certainty, that it’s going to be pharmaceuticals, cars — what you can name, lots of products. So that’s a real concern, I think, for me, about accepting your theory of aiding and abetting liability,” Kavanaugh said.
Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson told Stetson that “all of the things that you asked for in this lawsuit,” including changes to the U.S. firearm industry’s safety, distribution and marketing practices, “would amount to different kinds of regulatory constraints that I’m thinking Congress didn’t want the courts to be the ones to impose.”
Addressing Stetson, Conservative Justice Samuel Alito said that “there are Americans who think that Mexican government officials are contributing to a lot of illegal conduct here” in the United States.
“So suppose that one of the 50 U.S. states sued for aiding and abetting within the state’s borders that causes the state to incur law enforcement costs, welfare costs, other costs. Would your client be willing to litigate that case in the courts of the United States?” he asked.
Justice John Roberts dismissed Mexico’s argument about the deliberate design of firearms to appeal to cartels, saying, “There are some people who want the experience of shooting a particular type of gun.” (@WestPoint_USMA/X)
Liberal Justice Elena Kagan told Stetson that Mexico’s case lacked specificity.
“What you don’t have is particular dealers, right? Who are [the accused] aiding and abetting in this complaint?” she asked.
Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts appeared to dismiss Mexico’s argument about the deliberate design of firearms to appeal to cartels.
“There are some people who want the experience of shooting a particular type of gun because they find it more enjoyable than using a BB gun,” he said.
Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas asked Stetson how Mexico’s lawsuit was “different from the types of suits that prompted the passage of PLCAA?”
“Our suit is different,” Stetson responded, “because the types of suits that prompted the passage of PLCAA specifically did not allege that the manufacturers had violated any law.”
Thomas was less than satisfied with her response.
Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett said to Stetson that Mexico hasn’t sued “any of the retailers that were the most proximate cause of the harm,” even though the Mexican government has filed claims against five gun stores in Arizona.
In contrast to most of her Supreme Court colleagues, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor “seemed sympathetic to Mexico’s theory of the role played by the gun companies in causing the legal injury to Mexico’s government,” Reuters reported.
In a “Trump proceeds with tariffs” fact sheet issued on Monday, the White House once again asserted that “Mexican drug trafficking organizations, the world’s leading fentanyl traffickers, operate unhindered due to an intolerable relationship with the government of Mexico.”
“The government of Mexico has afforded safe havens for the cartels to engage in the manufacturing and transportation of dangerous narcotics,” it said.
Early last month, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and U.S. President Donald Trump reached an agreement to postpone the 25% tariffs for one month. As part of that deal, Sheinbaum said that the United States had committed to “work to avoid the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico.”
However, Trump hasn’t made any public commitment to do so.
Former foreign affairs minister and current Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said in 2021 that reducing violence in Mexico would be very difficult if the United States didn’t do more to stop the illegal flow of weapons into the country.
Sheinbaum said in January that what her government is “very interested in is that the entry of weapons from the United States to Mexico stops because 75% of firearms seized [in Mexico] … come from the United States.”
She said last month that Mexico would have to “broaden” its lawsuit against United States-based gun companies if the U.S. government designated Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations as the gunmakers “could be” considered “accomplices” to terrorism.
Factories across Mexico, but particularly northern Mexico are likely to feel the impact of U.S. tariffs, which went into effect Tuesday. (Aberu.go/Shutterstock)
Ten of Mexico’s 32 states could be highly vulnerable to U.S. tariffs on Mexican products, the U.S. credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings forecast on Thursday.
Several Mexican states rely on export-oriented manufacturing, particularly in the north and Bajío (central) regions. In total, around 80% of Mexico’s exports are destined for the U.S., roughly 40% of them in auto manufacturing.
A Toyota automotive plant located in the northern city of Tijuana. (Baja California) (Omar Martínez/Cuartoscuro)
On Feb. 1, the U.S. government announced a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada. The White House later delayed the tariffs to March 4.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Tuesday that her government will respond with its own “tariff and nontariff measures.”
S&P’s forecast shows that the Mexican states of Baja California, Chihuahua, Sonora, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Querétaro and Aguascalientes will likely feel the biggest impact of the tariffs, as over 20% of their GDP comes from industries moving goods between Mexico and the United States and selling products to the U.S.
The states of Jalisco, Hidalgo, México state, Morelos, Puebla, Oaxaca and Tlaxcala face moderate exposure to the tariff threat, with between 10% and 20% of their GDP coming from vulnerable industries.
If the tariffs remain in place for months or quarters, rather than weeks, Mexico’s economy could be hit hard, according to S&P.
The sectors expected to be most exposed to the shock are transportation manufacturing (including machines and equipment, motor vehicles and semitrailers), electrical equipment manufacturing and basic metals (including steel and aluminum).
Steel manufacturing is another Mexican industry expected to be hard hit by U.S. tariffs. (Alto Hornos de Mexico)
S&P estimates that a drop in demand spurred by tariffs could decrease production in certain sectors by 8%–15%.
Some states, such as México state and Hidalgo, have more diverse economies, making them less vulnerable to tariffs. However, market uncertainty could lead to reduced private-sector investment in Mexico, hindering economic growth, said S&P.
Banco Base’s assessment
The Mexican financial institution Banco Base also predicted on Feb. 2 that the tariffs’ biggest impact would be on northern Mexico, naming states whose exports contribute a high proportion of their GDP. Banco Base’s list of those likely to be most affected included Chihuahua, Coahuila, Baja California, Tamaulipas, Sonora and Nuevo León.
“If tariffs come into effect, this will mean a collapse, first for Mexican exports. This implies a lower supply of dollars arriving in Mexico and therefore increases in the exchange rate,” said Banco Base’s Director of Economic Analysis Gabriela Siller.
With 25% tariffs, explained Siller, “… foreign companies would no longer have incentives to reinvest their profits in Mexico and install new plants.”
Meanwhile, the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) said in a recent report that it expects tariffs to hit highly integrated industries in the region harder, such as automotive, aerospace, electronics and agriculture.
IMCO expects any trade barrier to increase the cost of production as well as reduce competitiveness against other markets.
Larry Rubin of the American Society of Mexico. (Moises Pablo Nava/Cuartoscuro)
The arrival in Mexico of the new United States ambassador will help the Mexican government “understand what the priorities are” for the Trump administration, according to Larry Rubin, president of the American Society of Mexico (AmSoc).
Mexico News Daily recently spoke to Rubin, a dual Mexican and United States citizen who is a representative of the U.S. Republican Party in Mexico.
He said he was “very optimistic” about the arrival of Ronald D. Johnson, a former ambassador to El Salvador who United States President Donald Trump nominated as his pick for ambassador to Mexico. Johnson is currently awaiting confirmation of his appointment by the U.S. Senate.
“We really believe that his work in Mexico will be crucial on many fronts,” Rubin told MND.
Although Trump has made it clear he wants action from Mexico to stem the flow of drugs and migrants to the United States, the AmSoc president believes that Johnson will provide even greater clarity to the Sheinbaum administration about the priorities of the U.S. government.
On immigration control and the fight against transnational drug trafficking, “definitely Mexico and the U.S. need to work together,” Rubin said.
Johnson could be a crucial intermediary between Trump and the Sheinbaum administration, conveying to Mexican officials what needs to be done to appease the U.S. president and avoid — or have lifted — punitive measures such as the imposition of tariffs on Mexican exports, for example.
“The Trump administration has been very clear that they don’t expect anything but results, and so the time when Mexico could get away with beautiful press releases, and forums and discussions and inviting ministers to come down and talk about it or go up to D.C. and talk about it is long gone,” Rubin said in an interview before the extradition of 29 Mexican cartel figures to the United States.
“Now it’s about action … and that’s what we get with this [U.S] administration,” he said.
Los aranceles no son buenos para nadie. Tampoco lo es el crimen organizado. Trabajemos juntos México 🇲🇽, Estados Unidos 🇺🇸 y Canadá 🇨🇦 para erradicar este cáncer que nos ha invadido a las 3 naciones
Rubin stressed that action against narcotics and illegal immigration is also “good for Mexico,” and said he had spoken about that to “different stakeholders” in the Mexican government.
It’s not about doing “a favor” for the U.S., but about “what’s in it for Mexico,” he said, referring to benefits such as an improved domestic security situation.
“Working together, the U.S. and Mexico, there really is an opportunity for both countries to benefit,” Rubin said.
“If you want to get rid of those tentacles you have to go to the source and the source is these Mexican drug lords in Mexico,” said Rubin, who compared high-ranking cartel operatives in the U.S. to “small-time managers.”
Rubin: Stopping flow of weapons to Mexico not a priority for US
Asked whether he believed the United States would take meaningful action to stem the flow of weapons to Mexico, Rubin responded that he didn’t believe it was “a priority for the U.S. government.”
“And I don’t see it becoming a priority,” he added.
Over two million illegal firearms are estimated to have entered Mexico since 2013. (Adolfo Vladimir/Cuartoscuro)
The United States is the primary source of weapons for cartels, but Rubin said that Mexican criminal organizations also obtain weapons from other parts of the world and could rely on those connections if the illicit supply from the U.S. dries up.
“They don’t need the U.S. to get their weapons,” he said.
Rubin said that “the way Mexico can control illegal weapons from coming in is really securing their borders.”
“At the end of the day who’s responsible for anything coming into Mexico is not the U.S., it’s Mexico,” he said, adding that the U.S. is also “responsible for closing down its borders” to stop the entry of drugs and migrants.
The AmSoc president advocated greater engagement with Texas on the arms trafficking issue, noting that approximately 70% of the Mexico-U.S. border runs through the Lone Star state.
“I think these issues can be discussed … state to country, more than at a federal level,” he said, adding that he believed Texas Governor Greg Abbott was “open” to such talks.
USMCA is ‘a very valuable instrument’
Rubin said that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the free trade pact that superseded NAFTA in 2020, is “a very valuable instrument, not only for Mexico but also for the U.S. and Canada.”
The agreement has created opportunities for small companies as well as large corporations “to look beyond their local markets,” he said ahead of the 2026 review of the pact.
The USMCA has brought Mexico and the United States together as trade partners like never before. (Omar Martínez/Cuartoscuro)
As an extension of the economic integration in North America, Rubin said that the United States could seek to alleviate shortages in certain sectors, such as nursing and trucking, by hiring Mexican workers.
There are “tons of opportunities to help the U.S. economy by bringing in legal workers” who can be “vetted” by authorities before entry, he said, adding that expanding legal pathways for migration is something that the Trump administration will likely look at.
Rubin sees increased US immigration to Mexico as a positive
“We’re excited to see these growing numbers because we do believe that makes our societies even more integrated,” Rubin said, referring to the increased presence of Americans in Mexico.
He said that some 2 million U.S. citizens currently live in Mexico.
Due to the large number of Mexican-Americans in the U.S., and the growing number of U.S. citizens living in Mexico, he predicted the emergence on both sides of the border of more leaders from those communities in politics, business and other fields.
Mexico News Daily asked the AmSoc president whether he had detected any increase in anti-American sentiment due to current tensions in the Mexico-U.S. relationship, including those related to Trump’s mass deportation plan.
“Fortunately I have not picked up anything yet. Of course, we have to be vigilant because the tide could turn,” he said.
“But part of what we try to do at the American society is promote the fact that our two countries are stronger together.”
![Catherine Stetson, lawyer for the Mexican government, told the Supreme Court that "Mexico's complaint pleads that [U.S. gun manufacturers] aided and abetted violations of specific federal gun laws and that those violations proximately caused Mexico's harm."](https://mexiconewsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/589764_Destruccion-de-armas-Oaxaca_impreso-696x464.jpg "589764_Destrucción de armas Oaxaca_impreso")
