“Buying property in Mexico should feel exciting, not stressful,” says MexEdge founder George Reavis. (Stephan Hinni/Unsplash)
Financial services firm MexEdge is set to become the first company in Mexico to offer currency risk solutions specifically tailored for individuals buying or building property in Mexico.
“Our mission is to empower people with peace of mind,” MexEdge founder George Reavis said in a press release. “Buying property in Mexico should feel exciting, not stressful.”
Luxury homes in Mexico could be more accessible for international buyers thanks to new currency risk solutions from MexEdge. (Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Colonial Homes San Miguel)
MexEdge was created “to remove the financial guesswork and give our clients clarity, control and confidence in their investment.”
On its website, MexEdge says it provides “tailored solutions to fit the needs” of expats purchasing real estate or making other significant transfers.
“Through exclusive partnerships with leading [foreign exchange] banks, we offer corporate-level exchange rates, forward contracts to lock in your rate and personalized support every step of the way,” it says.
With two years of experience in Mexico, MexEdge aims to help expats and international buyers save money and eliminate risks when exchanging US dollars, Canadian dollars or other currencies to Mexican pesos.
MexEdge says it can help clients make sense of “a global environment shaped by shifting trade policies, tariff talks and increasing market uncertainty.”
The company has also published a handbook entitled: “The Ultimate Guide to Saving Money on Currency Exchange for Expats in Mexico.” The guide is available for free on its website.
MexEdge says “currency volatility has become a serious concern for foreign buyers,” driving demand for its brokerage services.
With the peso reaching new highs and the dollar losing strength, U.S. and Canadian buyers face greater exposure to unpredictable currency swings, which can add thousands of dollars to the final purchase price.
A tranquil interior patio in a colonial Mexican home, one of many dream properties made easier to purchase with expert currency planning. (casitamx)
On his LinkedIn page, Reavis says his company works “alongside real estate professionals to simplify currency planning, reduce financial surprises and deliver smoother closings for international clients.”
Among his more than 25 years in real estate development, construction and finance, Reavis has spent seven years working in Mexico.
He says he created MexEdge “as a direct response to challenges I faced in my own projects,” including the experience of watching promising deals nearly fall apart, or being undercut by sudden shifts in the dollar/peso exchange rate that added thousands more to the bottom line.
The ARM Cuauhtémoc at port in Dublin. The ship was seen hitting the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City earlier this week. (Miguel Mendez/Wikimedia)
After a Mexican Navy tall ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge this weekend, killing two cadets, global attention has been on the magnificent boat, despite the tragedy surrounding it. The ARM Cuauhtémoc, which was filmed crashing into the bridge, has a long and proud history of service with the Mexican Navy.
The Cuauhtémoc functions as a floating cultural embassy, spreading Mexican spirit at all the ports it visits. For more than four decades, it has served as a way for the government to inspire youth, promote Mexico and turn heads at every port it has visited.
But what happened in Brooklyn? Mexico News Daily’s María Meléndez explains what we know so far.
Prices for processed food, beverages and tobacco rose 4.47% annually in the first 15 days of May, while non-food goods were 2.64% more expensive. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico’s annual inflation rate rose above 4% in the first half of May, reaching its highest level since December.
The national statistics agency INEGI reported Thursday that the annual headline rate was 4.22% in the first 15 days of May, up from 3.93% across April.
Inflation is now outside the Bank of Mexico’s target range of 3% plus or minus one percentage point.
The annual headline rate in the first half of this month — above the 4.01% consensus forecast of analysts polled by Reuters — is the highest since the first 15 days of December.
INEGI said that consumer prices increased 0.09% compared to the second half of last month, while the annual core inflation rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was 3.97% in the first 15 days of May, up from 3.93% across April.
The central bank also reduced its key rate by 50 basis points in early February. With last week’s cut, the rate currently stands at 8.50%, the lowest level since August 2022.
The Mexican financial group Banco Base said in an analysis note that it would be “prudent” for Banxico to pause its monetary easing cycle following this morning’s inflation figures. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
Bloomberg reported that the uptick in inflation in the first half of May “likely won’t deter central bankers from cutting the interest rate again in June given the economy also posted weak growth.”
INEGI reported on Thursday that the Mexican economy contracted 0.4% in March compared to February and 0.1% on an annual basis.
Despite the weak growth, Banco Base said in an analysis note that it would be “prudent” for Banxico to pause its monetary easing cycle. The Mexican bank highlighted that core inflation rose to its highest level since last August in the first half of this month.
“This is a cause for concern, as the core component determines the trajectory of headline inflation over the medium and long term, and its recent upward trend suggests that the Bank of Mexico has not yet achieved sustained inflation convergence to the 3% target,” Banco Base said.
Banxico said last week that its governing board could “consider adjusting” its benchmark interest rate “in similar magnitudes” — i.e., by 50 basis points — at future monetary policy meetings.
Economists at Brazilian brokerage and financial services group XP predicted another 50 basis point reduction to Banxico’s key rate in June, but said that additional upticks in inflation “could motivate” the central bank to slow the pace of its monetary policy easing to 25 basis points in August.
Inflation data in detail
INEGI’s latest data shows that agricultural products (fruit, vegetables and meat) were 5.79% more expensive in the first half of May than in the same period last year. Annual inflation for meat alone was 10.25%, while fruit and vegetable prices decreased 1.22%.
Prices for processed food, beverages and tobacco rose 4.47% annually in the first 15 days of May, while non-food goods were 2.64% more expensive.
The cost of services increased 4.49%, while energy prices, including those for gasoline and electricity, rose 3.71%.
The Mexico we know and love once looked very different. Where did some of it go? (Todo Mapas México)
Indigenous rebellions, foreign invasion and secessionist movements have meant that Mexico’s map has changed dramatically since independence in 1821. Most people are familiar with the territory taken by the United States in the Mexican-American War, but there are several other former Mexican states that no longer exist.
Here are six of them — depending on how you count:
Nuevo León y Coahuila
(Wikimedia Commons)
The map of Coahuila has changed many times. While republican Mexico’s first constitution was being drafted, the home of wine in the Americas had been part of the gigantic Internal State of the East. As Coahuila y Tejas, it became the sixteenth Mexican state. In 1840, in the context of a wave of secessionist movements sparked by President Antonio López de Santa Anna’s adoption of a centralist constitution, Coahuila joined Nuevo León and Tamaulipas in forming the short-lived separatist Republic of the Rio Grande.
Arguably, the strangest moment in Coahuila’s territorial history came in the 1850s. When federalists revolted against Santa Anna in the 1854 Ayutla Revolution, the call to rebellion was answered in the northeast by a Nuevo León-born military leader named Santiago Vidaurri, who defeated centralist troops in Monterrey and then marched into Coahuila. Through shrewd politicking and military power, Vidaurri unilaterally annexed Coahuila in 1856, fusing his home state and its neighbor into the state of Nuevo León y Coahuila, which he essentially ruled as his personal domain.
Vidaurri’s move was, of course, completely illegal, but the new Liberal government of the country needed him on their side, and the Constitution of 1857 officially ratified Nuevo León y Coahuila as a state. It stayed that way until 1864, when Vidaurri was executed for having sided with the Second Mexican Empire. President Benito Juárez made Nuevo León and Coahuila two states once again.
The Kingdom of Guatemala
(Wiki Index)
While not a state — Mexico didn’t have them yet — nearly all of Central America was once part of the country. Under Spanish rule, the territory that is now Chiapas, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica made up the Captaincy-General of Guatemala, a sister colony to New Spain.
Central America peacefully declared independence from Spain in September 1821, and its conservative leaders favored annexation into the newly-independent Mexican Empire, a constitutional monarchy. Agustín de Iturbide, who would later become Emperor of Mexico, felt similarly, inviting Central America to join his country. The government of Guatemala City — the region’s de facto government — accepted in January 1822, bringing Mexico to the historic height of its territorial extent. Not all Central Americans agreed with Guatemalan leadership or annexation to Mexico, however, and many Salvadorans, Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans took up arms against it.
Iturbide sent Mexican troops to pacify these regions and was largely successful, but after he abdicated in March 1823, Mexico’s interim government was willing to let Central America decide its own fate. In July of that year, Central America declared independence from Mexico and both countries came into the world as republics: Mexico as the First Mexican Republic and Central America as the United Provinces of Central America. Mexico did keep a piece of the old Guatemala, though: Chiapas voted to remain part of the country in 1824.
Sinaloa y Sonora
(Wikimedia Commons)
As many Sinaloans and Sonorans will tell you, their states have a lot in common — their natives’ loud, percussive accents, love of baseball and taste for seafood come to mind. These northern Pacific states are neighbors, but they were once something even closer: the single state of Sinaloa y Sonora.
Take a look at the map of early independent Mexico and you’ll quickly notice that while the country’s central and southern states look largely as they do today, the northern states are enormous. In 1824, that made sense: northern Mexico was very sparsely populated by Mexicans and was still under the control of powerful Indigenous nations, so large states initially seemed practical for administrative and defense purposes. Three Estados Internos, or Internal States, were created on the country’s periphery; Sinaloa and Sonora were made the Internal State of the West, also called Sinaloa y Sonora, which included part of modern-day Arizona as well.
Sonora and Sinaloa had frequently been governed as part of the same territory since the colonial era. Though this arrangement fostered a closeness between their populations that persists until today, it also created deep rivalries between the territories’ local elites, who competed for influence and commercial opportunities. Illustrating this rivalry, the state’s capital was moved several times from Sonora to Sinaloa and back again. In 1830, with disagreements becoming untenable and authorities torn about how to respond to Indigenous rebellions, Sinaloa and Sonora finally became the first states admitted to the federation ever to separate.
The Estado Interno del Norte and Estado Interno del Oriente
(Wikimedia Commons)
The elite rivalries that dissolved Sinaloa y Sonora were not unique in the Internal States, and in the other two, they didn’t take nearly as long to take effect. Under the Constitutive Act of 1824 — the law of the land while the Constitution of 1824 was being written — the Internal State of the North comprised Durango, Chihuahua and New Mexico, while the State of the East encompassed Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and Texas.
The State of the East included two major cities — Monterrey in Nuevo León and Saltillo in Coahuila — that had been commercial and political rivals since the 1600s and carried their rivalry into the independence period, angling to become the capital of the mega-state. When it became clear that this would not be possible, their leaders began advocating for separation and soon joined the republic as independent states.
Chihuahua and Durango had been governed together by Spain as the province of New Biscay, an arrangement that had worked out better for Durango, which was wealthier and more heavily populated. The two were turned into separate provinces after the collapse of the First Mexican Empire but were joined again as the State of the North in 1823, with a surprising development: the less affluent Chihuahua would be the state’s provisional capital. The Durango elite did not like this at all and agitated for separation, which they got in May 1824; in July of that year, Chihuahua became a state, while New Mexico became a territory.
The Provincia del Istmo
(Wikimedia Commons)
Set in the narrowest part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, which runs between the Oaxaca and Veracruz coastlines, Congress declared the foundation of the Province of the Isthmus in 1823. Encompassing the districts of Acayucan and Tehuantepec in present-day Veracruz and Oaxaca, respectively, the province was immediately wracked by conflict, as the government aimed to distribute the area’s rich salt flats and what it called its “wastelands” to retired military officers and settlers. There was a problem: these resources were communally owned by the area’s Indigenous Zapotec majority, who had not been asked.
Congress abolished the province in 1824, but life had been breathed into the spirit of local and Indigenous separatism in the region between the Atlantic and the Pacific, critically important for national governments from the nineteenth century down to our own time. Unlike the other disappeared states and provinces on this list, the Province of the Isthmus was briefly resurrected after its first death, reestablished in 1852 and dissolved again in 1855, during the Porfiriato.
The seasonal Aer Lingus flight will depart from Dublin on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 1:30 p.m., arriving in Cancún at 6:20 p.m. (John McArthur/Unsplash)
Ireland’s flagship air carrier Aer Lingus has announced it will launch a new non-stop route between Dublin and Cancún starting next year.
The route will be a seasonal flight, operating three times a week from January 6 to April 29, onboard an Airbus A330-300 wide-body aircraft. The service will primarily serve travelers looking to escape the Irish winter and enjoy the tropical climate of the Mexican Caribbean.
Flights will depart from Dublin on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 1:30 p.m., arriving in Cancún at 6:20 p.m. The return flight from Cancún will depart on the same day at 9:05 p.m., arriving in Dublin at 11:20 a.m. the following day.
“Our research reveals a strong appetite among customers for new travel experiences, particularly seasonal destinations beyond the peak summer period,” the carrier’s CEO Lynne Embleton said in a statement.
Aer Lingus, part of the airline group that includes Iberia, British Airways, Vueling and Level, noted that this new route also facilitates connections for passengers from other European cities and the United Kingdom via its Dublin hub.
Currently, tour operator TUI offers charter flights to Cancún from Dublin. However, Aer Lingus will become the first airline to provide a non-stop flight from Ireland, the company remarked.
Connections from Dublin International Airport to Cancún will be available from Edinburgh and eight other UK airports, including Glasgow, Manchester, and London Heathrow. (Wikimedia Commons)
Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama Espinosa celebrated the announcement in a statement.
“Quintana Roo, [and] the Mexican Caribbean, welcome and celebrate the first direct Dublin-Cancún flight from Aer Lingus. We will work together with our partner Aer Lingus to make this a successful operation,” Lezama said.
The Mexican Embassy in Dublin also celebrated Aer Lingus’s new flight, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Ambassador Carolina Zaragoza Flores noted that the move will strengthen Mexico’s position as Ireland’s largest trading partner in Latin America.
“This important development […] will undoubtedly foster even stronger economic ties and lead to a strategic partnership,” Zaragoza said.
Aer Lingus was founded in 1936 under the name Aer Lingus Teoranta, which means “air fleet” in Irish.
Back with her latest album and tour, Mexico's Natalia Lafourcade is making a statement about self love, artistic intent and Mexican musicianship. (All photos by Natalia Lafourcade/Facebook)
After more than a decade of loving her music from afar, I finally saw Natalia Lafourcade perform live in Toluca early this month as part of her tour for her album “Cancionera.” To say it was a dream come true would fall short: the evening was intimate, theatrical and deeply moving. It wasn’t just a concert — it felt like a one-woman play. Lafourcade performed every song acoustically, accompanied only by her guitar, weaving stories between each piece.
Few artists feel as woven into the fabric of modern Mexican music as Natalia Lafourcade. With a career spanning more than two decades, she is not just one of Mexico’s most beloved voices but also one of Latin America’s most decorated and enduring songwriters. At 41, Lafourcade holds four Grammy Awards and 18 Latin Grammys — more than any other woman in history, even edging out Shakira.
Natalia Lafourcade: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
Over the course of 23 years, she’s released 12 albums and countless songs that have become part of Mexico’s collective soundtrack. One standout is her version of “Nunca es Suficiente” with Los Ángeles Azules, which has racked up more than 2.2 billion views on YouTube and still plays everywhere from taco stands to weddings, a decade after its release.
Lafourcade’s quiet power resonates beyond Mexico too. Her 2017 NPR Tiny Desk Concert is one of the 12 most-watched of all time, a testament to the global reach of her intimate, soul-stirring music.
The making of a musical icon
Born in Mexico City and raised in the lush, artistic atmosphere of Veracruz, Natalia Lafourcade was quite literally surrounded by music from the beginning. Her father was a musician, and her mother, a classically trained pianist, developed the Macarsi teaching method, which combines musical instruction with personal development. That philosophy became Natalia’s foundation.
Lafourcade attended music and art schools throughout her childhood, and by the age of 14, she joined a short-lived teen pop group called Twist. Just three years later, in 2002, she released her self-titled debut album. “En el 2000”, a playful, Y2K-era anthem from that record, became her breakout hit.
Lafourcade kicked off the Cancionera tour in Xalapa, capital of her home state of Veracruz.
In the years that followed, Lafourcade leaned into collaboration, honing her sound alongside fellow musicians and releasing “Hu Hu Hu,” her second solo album. But it was her 2012 tribute project to Agustín Lara, “Mujer Divina,” that truly drew me in. This was the album that made me fall in love with Lafourcade’s music, and the one that revealed just how timeless and touching her artistry could be.
Reimagining tradition
“Mujer Divina” marked a graceful departure from Lafourcade’s pop roots into the romantic world of bolero. In honoring one of Mexico’s most legendary 20th-century composers, she reimagined songs that had been cherished since the 1930s. With the help of other acclaimed musicians, Lafourcade brought new life to Lara’s classics, setting the tone for a new artistic era— one grounded in soulfulness and folk tradition, where her soprano voice soared.
What followed was a series of critically acclaimed albums, including “Hasta la Raíz,” a folk-inspired and emotionally raw record whose title track remains Lafourcade’s most-streamed song on Spotify, and the two-volume “Musas.” These projects, created in collaboration with Los Macorinos — best known as Chavela Vargas’ backing band — paid homage to the richness of Latin American folk music. Here, the singer found her signature sound: acoustic, timeless, reverent.
By 2018, Lafourcade’s star had risen well beyond Mexico. That year, she performed at the 90th Academy Awards alongside Miguel and Gael García Bernal, singing “Remember Me” from Pixar’s “Coco,” which would go on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song.
Lafourcade has remained prolific in recent years, releasing two volumes of “Un Canto por México” and later “De Todas las Flores” in 2022— her first album of entirely original music in seven years. She debuted the project at New York’s Carnegie Hall, accompanied with a book and podcast exploring the album’s themes. Describing the album, Lafourcade called it “my salvation, my relief, the replanting of seeds.”
“Cancionera” and a new chapter
Natalia Lafourcade’s latest project, “Cancionera,” released earlier this year, feels like her most intimate offering yet— a spiritual unraveling, a love letter to Mexico’s past and perhaps to the artist herself. Recorded entirely in one take on analog tape with 18 musicians, the album echoes the warmth and imperfections of something deeply human. Its sound is steeped in the spirit of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema and shaped by the reflective weight of turning 40.
Lafourcade performs in Mérida, Yucatán on May 17.
“This album is full of symbolism, inspired by the surrealism of Mexico and the values of our tradition and iconography,” Lafourcade told the Associated Press in April. “I wanted to honor the songs and the path of the cancioneras and cancioneros of life.”
When Lafourcade announced the Cancionera tour in February, there was no way I couldn’t go. Although I hadn’t read about the album’s inspirations beforehand, sitting in Toluca’s Teatro Morelos it quickly became clear that the show was built around a character: her alter ego, La Cancionera. Part Chavela Vargas, part smoky mystic in a mezcal-soaked cantina, this character sang boleros and rancheras with aching, deliberate grace. Lafourcade called the performance “el teatro de la canción”— theater of song — and that’s exactly what it was.
The evening unfolded like a quiet spell. “Cancionera” is not just an album; it’s a portal. Whether you’ve been following Lafourcade’s journey for years or are only just discovering her work, this project is a moving reminder of her devotion to Mexican music— and the enduring magic of a voice that keeps finding new ways to sing the soul.
Rocio is based in Mexico City and is the creator of CDMX iykyk, a newsletter designed to keep expats, digital nomads and the Mexican diaspora in the loop. The monthly dispatches feature top news, cultural highlights, upcoming CDMX events & local recommendations. For your dose of must-know news about Mexico,subscribe here.
Sheinbaum took questions from reporters via Zoom on Wednesday morning after the national teachers' union blocked press access. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
President Claudia Sheinbaum noted at the very beginning of her Wednesday morning press conference that her mañanera would be “different” as reporters (and government officials) were unable to get into the National Palace due to a teachers’ protest.
The president, accompanied only by a military general, said in the largely empty Treasury Hall of the National Palace that reporters would connect “by Zoom” to participate in her Wednesday morning press conference.
Mexico hoping for more preferential trade treatment from US ‘very soon’
A reporter noted that Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday that vehicles assembled in Mexico will face an average tariff of 15% when exported to the United States, significantly lower than the 25% duty the U.S. applies to most other foreign cars.
Sheinbaum first noted that Mexican auto parts are not subject to U.S. tariffs (provided they comply with USMCA rules) and highlighted that the duty on vehicles assembled in Mexico is “significantly” reduced because they contain “a lot of auto parts that come from the United States.”
The president answered a question about whether trade discussions with the United States had reached a deal on steel and aluminum tariffs. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
With regard to “the case of steel and aluminum,” she said her government hopes to “reach an agreement very soon that puts Mexico in a preferential situation compared to the rest of the world.”
Ebrard has traveled regularly to Washington D.C. in recent months to discuss trade with U.S. officials, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
‘We’re working with Clara to get justice’
Sheinbaum said she had the opportunity on Tuesday to speak in person with Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada, whose personal secretary and advisor were murdered on Tuesday morning.
“She was here for a while in the afternoon,” she said.
“Above all, [we’re providing] solidarity and support to Clara,” Sheinbaum said, noting that the two victims were “very close” to the mayor.
She said that the families of the victims should know that “we’re working with Clara to get justice.”
Earlier in her press conference, Sheinbaum said that the federal government is supporting the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office in its investigation into the double homicide.
The Attorney General of Mexico City Bertha Alcalde Luján and Mexico City Security Minister Pablo Vazquez Camacho announced on Wednesday that authorities are currently seeking four people in connection with the double homicide of the mayor’s aides. (Victoria Valtierra/Cuartoscuro)
A reporter asked the president how the government will explain to teachers that “resources are finite” and therefore it is not possible to give them a 100% pay rise, as the CNTE union is demanding.
“There will be dialogue,” Sheinbaum responded.
She subsequently asserted that only “some teachers from some states” are protesting, whereas “the vast majority of Mexico’s teachers” are in classrooms teaching.
“There are teachers from some states that are creating this situation,” Sheinbaum said.
“And the only way to resolve everything is with dialogue. So the door is open to dialogue, the door will always be open to dialogue,” she said.
Another reporter said that he and other journalists were “victims of attacks” by teachers on Wednesday morning when they were attempting to get into the National Palace for the president’s mañanera.
Sheinbaum responded that her government will “always condemn any attack on the media and on journalists” while defending people’s right to protest peacefully.
“… We don’t agree with aggression against anyone,” she said.
In his extended remarks Wednesday to members of the U.S. House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee, Secretary Rubio mentioned the murder of two government aides in Mexico City on Tuesday and stressed that political violence is "real." (@SecRubio/X)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday acknowledged the murder of two mayoral aides in Mexico City, declared that political violence in Mexico is “real” and asserted that the U.S. wants to help stop the southward flow of weapons that often end up in the hands of cartel henchmen.
Responding to a question from Congressman Michael McCaul of Texas, Rubio noted that he “heard last night [that] two more people were murdered in Mexico City, associated with the mayor of Mexico City.”
“The political violence there is real,” he said.
Rubio was referring to the murder on Tuesday morning of Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada’s personal secretary, Ximena Guzmán, and José Muñoz, an advisor.
As Rubio remarked, political violence in Mexico is indeed “real,” but Mexico City has been largely spared the kinds of attacks on politicians that are common in some other parts of the country. That made Tuesday’s double homicide — which experts believe was an organized crime hit carried out to send a message to Brugada’s administration — all the more shocking.
Among other remarks, Rubio told McCaul, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, that there have been “irritants” in the United States’ relationship with Mexico, but also “areas of cooperation.”
“… It’s been actually pretty positive. They have been very responsive on our security concerns, they’ve increased their security cooperation with us in ways that have been very productive,” said the secretary of state, a former U.S. senator for Florida.
The security concerns Rubio referred to are, most notably, the entry of narcotics, especially fentanyl, and migrants to the United States from Mexico.
The secretary of state also said on Wednesday that he “intended to travel potentially to Mexico” in “the next few weeks” along with “a couple of other cabinet members to sort of finalize some of these areas of cooperation.”
What are Rubio’s main concerns about Mexico?
“… We’ve been primarily focused with Mexico on two things. One is on trade, which is not my department, but obviously our Trade Representative Mr. Greer and also Commerce Secretary Lutnick has been engaging with them,” Rubio said, referring to negotiations over tariffs imposed by the United States on some imports from Mexico.
“And then the other is on security cooperation. We have a mutual interest in Mexico. In essence the cartels that operate within Mexico and threaten the state are armed from weapons that are bought in the United States and shipped there. We want to help stop that flow,” he said.
Rubio addressed an issue that has long been a sore spot in Mexico: the flow of firearms from the United States to the cartels in Mexico. “We want to help stop that flow,” he said. (Carolina Jiménez Mariscal/Cuaroscuro)
It appears to be pleased with the efforts made by the second Trump administration so far.
On May 6, Sheinbaum described as “historic” a recent statement released by the United States government declaring what she called a new “mano dura” (heavy hand or iron fist) approach to gun smuggling from the U.S. to Mexico.
On Wednesday, Rubio said that the Mexican government has a “vested interest and a desire to go after these cartels, and we want to help equip them and provide them information.”
The Rice's whale is named for the scientist who first identified it as a separate species. Its population may be down to 51. (NOAA/Wikimedia Commons)
The Sierra Club and other environmental groups have filed a lawsuit to adequately protect endangered marine animals — including one of the world’s rarest whales — from being harmed or killed by fossil fuel drilling and exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.
The filing Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Maryland came on the heels of the Trump administration’s publication of a long-awaited environmental assessment this week.
With their service vessels and periodic leaks, fossil fuel drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico can be lethal to the rare Rice’s whale. (Shutterstock)
The assessment from the United States’ National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) found that vessel strikes related to oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico are likely to jeopardize the existence of the critically endangered Rice’s whale.
The new assessment was ordered last year by a federal judge who ruled that the previous NMFS report did not adequately address risks from oil spills and vessel strikes.
The new report, meanwhile, admits offshore gas and oil activities could kill nine Rice’s whales and harm hundreds of sea turtles over the next 45 years.
The Rice’s whale, named after the scientist (Dale Rice) who first wrote about the unique population in the mid-1960s, was officially recognized as a distinct species of baleen whale in 2021.
There are an estimated 51 whales — who are up to 12.8 meters long and have pink-tinged underbellies — in the Gulf, according to the analysis, though other studies cite “fewer than 100” remaining.
For example, the report sets speed restrictions and a requirement for vessels to maintain a 500-meter minimum distance from the species, if spotted.
What are the grounds for the Sierra Club’s lawsuit?
However, the new report doesn’t go far enough, the suit alleges. It was filed by the U.S. nonprofit Earthjustice on behalf of the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth and the Turtle Island Restoration Network.
The Rice’s whale’s habitat is limited to the Gulf of Mexico, making it one of the most vulnerable species of whale in the world. (NOAA)
“It’s just as inadequate for protecting rare marine species as the last biological opinion was,” said Chris Eaton, an attorney with Earthjustice. “For Rice’s whales, it allows activities over the next 45 years that the Fisheries Service admits will kill nine whales and seriously injure three more.”
Losing even one breeding female could collapse the population, scientists warn.
Oil and gas industry groups welcomed the publication of the analysis. Had it not been produced by a judge’s May 21 deadline, vital operations could have been shut down.
However, they also criticized the report.
“We are concerned by the inclusion of a jeopardy finding for the Rice’s whale,” National Ocean Industries Association President Erik Milito said in a statement. “That determination appears inconsistent with the best available science and triggers unnecessary regulatory uncertainty.”
Rice’s whales inhabit the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, particularly around the De Soto Canyon off the coast of Florida, but have also been detected further west.
The Gulf of Mexico also hosts five endangered sea turtle species, which face ship strikes, explosives and oil spills under the plan.
“The Fisheries Service continues to turn a blind eye to offshore oil and gas risks,” Eaton said. “This doesn’t provide the protection the law requires.”
Ebrard said on Tuesday that the tariff "discount" for Mexican auto exports to the U.S. would be 40%, on average, but could be as high as 50% — if the vehicle has 50% U.S. content. (Ivana Cajina/Unsplash)
Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday that vehicles assembled in Mexico will face an average tariff of 15% when exported to the United States, significantly lower than the 25% duty the U.S. applies to most other foreign cars.
“It’s a very big advantage compared to other countries that export to the United States,” Ebrard said at an event in Mexico City.
“Of course, we would love it to be zero,” he added.
United States President Donald Trump announced in late March that he would impose a 25% tariff “on all cars that are not made in the United States,” but U.S. content in vehicles assembled in Mexico was exempted from the duty, lowering the effective tariff on vehicles made in Mexico. The tariff took effect in early April.
The “procedures” published by the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Federal Register detail what importers of vehicles from Mexico and Canada need to do to be exempt from paying a tariff on the U.S. content in those vehicles (see below).
Ebrard: Tariff ‘discount’ could be as high as 50%
Ebrard said that vehicles assembled in Mexico are eligible for a “discount” on the 25% tariff announced by Trump in late March.
Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard has led Mexico’s trade negotiations with the United States, traveling to Washington on repeated occasions to present the Mexican government’s case against auto, steel and aluminum tariffs. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
He said that the “discount” would be 40%, on average, but could be as high as 50% — if a vehicle has 50% U.S. content.
Guillermo Rosales, president of the Mexican Association of Automotive Distributors, said in March that a vehicle made in Mexico for export to the United States has, on average, 40% U.S. content. The effective tariff on a vehicle assembled in Mexico with 40% U.S. content is 15%.
In the notice it published on Tuesday, the U.S. Commerce Department said it was making “the assumption that the approximate amount of U.S. content” in vehicles made in Mexico and exported to the U.S. “is equal to 40 percent of the value of the vehicle.”
Thus, Ebrard said that the average tariff on vehicles made in Mexico and exported to the United States will be 15%.
If a car assembled in Mexico has 50% U.S. content, it will face an effective tariff rate of 12.5% when shipped to the United States. A Mexican-made car with only 30% U.S. content will face a 17.5% U.S. tariff.
Ebrard said that the preferential treatment afforded to Mexico is the result of the frequent meetings between Mexican officials and U.S. officials, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
“You can imagine what would happen without … [this treatment],” he said, referring to the economic damage a full 25% tariff would inflict on Mexico’s auto sector, which exported more than 2.6 million cars to the United States last year, according to U.S. data.
Ebrard has led Mexico’s trade negotiations with the United States, traveling to Washington on repeated occasions to present the Mexican government’s case against auto, steel and aluminum tariffs.
Mexican auto parts that comply with the USMCA are exempt from 25% duties imposed by the U.S on imports from most other countries in early May.
The National Auto Parts Industry reported earlier this month that 92% of the Mexican auto parts sector will not be subject to the 25% U.S. tariff as nearly all manufacturing complies with current trade rules.
Importers of Mexican vehicles must submit documentation to avoid full tariff
As of Tuesday May 20, importers of Mexican vehicles seeking preferential treatment on the U.S. content in the automobiles “may submit documentation, on a model line basis, identifying the type and value of U.S. content attributable to each model line imported into the United States,” according to the Commerce Department notice in the Federal Register.
Their documentation will be reviewed “for completeness and compliance” by the Commerce Department, the notice said.
If a submission is deemed to be in order, an importer won’t be required to pay the 25% tariff on the U.S. content on vehicles they are bringing into the United States.
The Commerce Department notice said that the commerce secretary “may retroactively extend this [preferential] treatment to qualifying model lines for vehicles imported on or after April 3, 2025, at his discretion,” meaning that importers could be partially reimbursed for tariffs they have already paid.
The notice said that if Customs and Border Protection “determines that the declared U.S. content is overstated or inconsistent with a U.S. content figure approved by the Secretary, the [full] 25 percent tariff will apply retroactively (from April 3, 2025, to the date of the inaccurate overstatement) and prospectively.”
Ebrard said he considered the Commerce Department notice to be “very positive,” given that it establishes “preferential treatment for the auto industry in Mexico and Canada.”
‘For many companies, the tariff will continue being close to 25%’
While Ebrard celebrated the preferential auto tariff treatment afforded to Mexico by the United States, the president of Global Alliance Solutions, an international trade services company that specializes in Mexico-U.S. customs brokerage, highlighted that not all vehicles made in Mexico will qualify for a 15% tariff rate when shipped to the U.S.
Adrián González said that while U.S. automakers such as Ford and General Motors might have 40% (or higher) U.S. content in the vehicles they make in Mexico, Japanese and German manufacturers do not.
Therefore, “for many companies, the tariff will continue being close to 25%,” he said.
Volkswagen, Toyota and Nissan are among the non-U.S. automakers that have plants in Mexico.
Under USMCA rules — and before Trump imposed the new auto tariff — a vehicle could enter the United States tariff-free provided at least 75% of the value of its content was from North America, i.e. Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.
González highlighted that the United States has agreed to cut its auto tariff on vehicles from the United Kingdom to 10% for 100,000 cars a year, and asserted that “Mexico should aspire to something similar, or even push for zero given the economic integration with the United States.”
