When Mexicans elected a new president, they also chose their next chief negotiator who will make tough choices with the United States on issues ranging from immigration and trade to fentanyl trafficking.
Mexicans voted overwhelmingly for Claudia Sheinbaum, giving her more than 58% of the vote and a significant mandate to govern Latin America's second-largest economy and the United States' top trading partner.
When President Andrés Manuel López Obrador leaves office and Sheinbaum takes office on October 1, she will inherit a country plagued by slow economic growth and violence linked to organized crime. It will also face a fractured relationship with the United States. Despite deep cross-border economic ties, relations between the United States and Mexico have been tested by the two countries' shared problems with global migration and drug trafficking.
“The two countries are incredibly confused in dealing with each other,” said Tony Payan, director of the Center for the United States and Mexico at the Baker Institute at Rice University. “I think the two countries need to come back to the table.”
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Americans may love Taco Tuesday and vacationing in Cancun, but the complexity of the relationship between the United States and Mexico often gets lost in marketing and political rhetoric. Mexico's stamp on the United States is everywhere.
It's in the Mexican auto parts that keep American auto workers employed in Detroit, in the windmill blades exported to clean energy plants in the United States, in the pacemakers that save the lives of American patients with heart failure, and in avocado toast worth $15 on restaurant menus nationwide. .
American exports to Mexico include grain grown in the Midwest and natural gas pumped in Texas. Mexico sends fruits and vegetables north, keeping grocery costs low amid volatile U.S. inflation
The country became the United States' largest trading partner last year, pushing China into second place, and trade between the two neighbors is now worth nearly $800 billion annually, according to the US Census Bureau.
But it is a fraught relationship. Mexico is also a transit country for hundreds of thousands of migrants heading to the United States, sparking recurring humanitarian crises at the US border. It is the source country for fentanyl, which kills tens of thousands of Americans every year.
The United States-Mexico-Canada Foreign Trade Agreement, known as USMCA – which was negotiated during the Trump administration – is ready to be renegotiated in 2026. US business leaders are concerned that renegotiating the deal could create uncertainty. It harms the economies of both countries.
“Mexico is now the major trading partner of the United States,” said Jennifer Aberti, director of the Texas-Mexico Center at Southern Methodist University. “Reopening the door again to matters that were just negotiated would not, frankly, be the best use of time. Action time is of the essence.”
Domingo Garcia, president of the US-based League of United Latin American Citizens, said in a statement that he looked forward to “building bridges” with the Sheinbaum administration.
In previous meetings, Garcia said he found Sheinbaum “open, engaging, and willing to listen and share her ideas about moving forward. Mexicans are vital to the United States' economic future and the overall strong vitality of our hemisphere. At the same time, we must consider environmental and scientific initiatives to benefit Our well-being today and for future generations.”
With an estimated 60% turnout in Sunday's election, this was one of the largest elections in Mexican history. Nearly 100 million people were eligible to vote.
For the first time, Mexican citizens living in the United States were able to cast their ballots in person at 20 consulates in the United States, including Phoenix.
Contributing: Rafael Carranza, The Arizona Republic
