When Mexicans elected a new president, they also chose the next negotiator-in-chief who will make tough choices with the United States on issues from immigration and trade to fentanyl trafficking.
Mexicans voted overwhelmingly for Claudia Sheinbaum, giving her more than 58% of the vote and a substantial mandate to govern the second-largest economy in Latin America and the No. 1 trading partner for the United States.
When President Andrés Manuel López Obrador leaves his post and Sheinbaum takes office on Oct. 1, she’ll inherit a country that is reeling from slow economic growth and violence linked to organized crime. She’ll also face a fractured relationship with the United States. Despite deep cross-border economic ties, the U.S.-Mexico relationship has been tested by the countries’ shared problems with global migration and drug trafficking.
“The two countries have been suffering from an incredible fumbling of the ball in dealing with each other,” said Tony Payan, director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute. “I think the two countries need to come back to the table.”
Politics:‘Finish the wall.’ Why the southern border became a big issue for this New England state.
Americans may love “taco Tuesday” and vacationing in Cancun, but the complexity of the U.S.-Mexico relationship is often lost amid marketing and political rhetoric. Mexico’s stamp on the U.S. is everywhere.
It’s in the Mexico-made car parts that keep U.S. autoworkers…
