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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/23\/world\/americas\/trump-mexico-trade-relations.html?emc=edit_nn_20260924&nl=the-morning&segment_id=226986",
    "parsed_content": "Trump AdministrationN.I.H. GrantsGreenland DealDefense of A.I.Voting by MailApproval RatingTrump\u2019s New Favorite Neighbor: MexicoPresident Trump built his political brand in part on bashing Mexico. Now his second presidency depends on deepening partnerships with the country.The U.S.-Mexico border wall near El Paso, Texas.Credit...Emily Elconin for The New York TimesTrump\u2019s New Favorite Neighbor: MexicoPresident Trump built his political brand in part on bashing Mexico. Now his second presidency depends on deepening partnerships with the country.The U.S.-Mexico border wall near El Paso, Texas.Credit...Emily Elconin for The New York TimesSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTListen \u00b7 10:49 min Share full articleBy Jack NicasEmiliano Rodr\u00edguez Mega and Zolan Kanno-YoungsJack Nicas reported from Mexico City and Washington. Emiliano Rodr\u00edguez Mega reported from Mexico City. Zolan Kanno-Youngs reported from Washington.Sept. 23, 2026Leer en espa\u00f1olThe U.S.-Canada relationship has imploded. But along the other, typically more contentious U.S. border, a partnership is blooming.In his second term, President Trump has made Mexico \u2014 once his favorite punching bag \u2014 now one of his closest and most important allies.The two nations have expanded cooperation to slow illegal border crossings to historic lows, joined forces to disrupt drug cartels and increased commerce to become each other\u2019s biggest trading partners.Mr. Trump opened his second term by threatening airstrikes in Mexico to stop immigration and drug trafficking at the border. But after a year of tensions, the relationship is lifting off as U.S. relations with Canada have nose-dived.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTTrump administration officials have recently begun praising Mexican efforts against the cartels, including in an official declaration last week, though they say they still want more action. Military and security agencies on both sides of the border have significantly deepened their ties, with officials in both countries saying there has never been better collaboration. And U.S. officials have effectively shelved plans for U.S. airstrikes on Mexican soil, at least for now, according to one U.S. official, one former Pentagon official and two Mexican officials.Now, the Trump administration also appears to be nearing a trade agreement directly with Mexico.Last week, President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said she and Mr. Trump had reached agreements on several trade issues in a long phone call. Hours after that call, Mr. Trump said at a campaign rally that the two nations were \u201cvery close\u201d to a trade deal.ImageMexican truckers who transport cargo into the U.S. attending an English class in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. In the first half of the year, total trade of goods between Mexico and the U.S. increased about 14 percent compared with a year prior, to nearly half a trillion dollars.Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesRoberto Lazzeri, Mexico\u2019s ambassador in Washington, said in an interview that he hoped they would have some sort of deal by the U.S. midterm elections. \u201cWe\u2019re on a good track,\u201d he said.It is a twist few expected when Mr. Trump returned to office: Mexico, not Canada, as his chosen neighbor. The shift reflects how he has shuffled the global map, particularly in favor of countries willing to cooperate with his demands.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTFor this article, Times reporters interviewed nearly a dozen U.S. and Mexican officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.In his address to the United Nations on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he was focused on getting Latin American nations to help fight against drug traffickers. \u201cI\u2019m very proud to tell you we have a very good relationship with the Mexican government,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve made great strides, very great strides with Mexico.\u201dHis transactional approach on the world stage also comes with unpredictability. While he has repeatedly complimented Ms. Sheinbaum as a world leader he respects, he also posted an image this month of the American flag superimposed over her nation.But Mexico is also critical to the success of the Trump agenda. He campaigned on stopping the flow of migrants and fentanyl across the border, and the U.S. economy relies in part on Mexico, especially amid the trade war with the other top U.S. trading partner, Canada.In the face of Mr. Trump\u2019s threats of airstrikes, ground troops and tariffs, Ms. Sheinbaum has focused on his priorities. She stationed 10,000 troops along Mexico\u2019s side of the border and ramped up operations against cartels, often using U.S. intelligence.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTFrom the final full month of the Biden administration to last month, total monthly border encounters \u2014 which count both arrests between crossings and migrants turned away at official ports \u2014 fell 87 percent, to 12,200. Fentanyl seizures at the U.S.-Mexico border dropped by half in the first half of this year, compared with the same period in 2024. And the Sheinbaum administration has already destroyed 2,700 drug labs in two years, 100 more than the preceding government destroyed in six.ImageA Customs and Border Protection employee testing packages of drugs seized by border agents at ports of entry in Southern California.Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesThe Sheinbaum government has taken a much more aggressive approach against the cartels, adding more than 600 new investigative agents, compared with zero under her predecessor, according to a Mexican official.Its work has been augmented by deeper collaboration with the United States.Since last year, U.S. security agencies have added hundreds of new Mexican law enforcement officials to Mexico\u2019s so-called vetted units, which are specialized task forces that have been trained and vetted by U.S. authorities and which receive U.S. intelligence on cartel targets, according to Mexican and U.S. officials.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe Mexican Navy also now interdicts nearly every boat in Mexican waters that U.S. intelligence flags as carrying drug traffickers, Mexican and U.S. officials said.U.S. officials still want more. The State Department said in a statement: \u201cThe Mexicans have done more than they ever have before to address these challenges, but it is still not nearly enough \u2014 they know that, we\u2019ve expressed that to them.\u201dMexico and the United States are also doing more business together. In the first half of the year, total trade of goods between the countries increased about 14 percent compared with a year prior, to nearly half a trillion dollars.Mexico, which now accounts for roughly one-sixth of all trade for the United States, has effectively had the lowest tariff rate of any major trading partner. A new trade agreement could lower that even further. At the same time, Mexico has imposed up to 50 percent tariffs on many Chinese imports, thrilling U.S. officials.The expanding partnership has been fostered in part by a warm relationship between Mr. Trump and Ms. Sheinbaum, developed over more than 20 conversations.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMs. Sheinbaum speaks English on their calls and aims to clearly explain Mexico\u2019s achievements in advancing Mr. Trump\u2019s priorities, including by sending charts that show declining border crossings and fentanyl seizures, according to two people with direct knowledge of the calls.ImageThe border at Nogales, Ariz. Illegal border crossings and drug seizures have both declined at the border crossings between the United States and Mexico.Credit...Paul Ratje for The New York TimesShe is firm but coolheaded while telling Mr. Trump that Mexico would not accept direct U.S. intervention on Mexican soil, these people said. She has also recently brought up the U.S. government\u2019s poor treatment of some Mexican migrants, arguing they are hard-working people who contribute to the U.S. economy, they said.Mr. Trump and his advisers continually push for more action against undocumented migrants and drug traffickers, but he is also warm toward his Mexican counterpart, they said. He has repeatedly called Ms. Sheinbaum elegant and said she has a \u201cbeautiful voice,\u201d both in public and on calls with her, according to three officials.After Mr. Trump told reporters this month that he could cut trade ties with Mexico if he wished, he added: \u201cI don\u2019t want to do that, because I get along very well with the president. We like the president. We respect her a lot.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe moment\u2019s good vibes are exceptional when considering the tensions just a few months ago.Two C.I.A. officers died in an April car crash during a drug lab operation in Chihuahua state. The incident infuriated Ms. Sheinbaum, who said her cabinet was unaware of U.S. activities in the state. Then U.S. prosecutors indicted a sitting Mexican governor from Ms. Sheinbaum\u2019s party, accusing him of aiding cartels.Ms. Sheinbaum walked a delicate line in response. She refused to order the indicted governor\u2019s arrest, but privately pressured him to step down. She warned of U.S. threats against Mexican sovereignty while continuing to expand security cooperation. Over time, the tensions defused.Mexican officials say her composed approach is the opposite of Canada\u2019s tack \u2014 and it is working.\u201cWe have learned that taking a belligerent or isolationist attitude is not going to achieve anything; it\u2019s going to drive up prices and products,\u201d said Ricardo Monreal, a Mexican lawmaker who leads Ms. Sheinbaum\u2019s coalition in Congress.\u201cSheinbaum has gotten it right: not taking the bait,\u201d he added. \u201cMexico is not positioned for a major confrontation, and I think the president understands that very well, unlike Canada.\u201dImagePresident Trump with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico last year during the draw for the 2026 World Cup.Credit...Brendan Smialowski\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty ImagesFor instance, when Mr. Trump posted the image of the U.S. flag over Mexico, Ms. Sheinbaum posted from her own account that Mexico will always remain independent, but did not directly address his post.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMr. Lazzeri, Mexico\u2019s ambassador in Washington, said in an interview that Mexican officials don\u2019t take such posts too seriously. \u201cIt\u2019s a picture, not an official statement. So I wouldn\u2019t know how to react to a picture,\u201d he said.When asked if it was currently the best moment in U.S.-Mexico relations, Mr. Lazzeri called it a moment of \u201cthe deepest coordination.\u201d\u201cThe best moment is very subjective,\u201d he added, \u201cas the world is going through a complex moment.\u201dYet there is a wing of Ms. Sheinbaum\u2019s political party, Morena, that wants her to push back harder.Washington\u2019s revocation of visas of Morena political figures, including the son of Ms. Sheinbaum\u2019s predecessor, former President Andr\u00e9s Manuel Lopez Obrador, has particularly angered some who accuse the Trump administration of trying to destabilize their leftist movement. Mexico is one of the last Latin American countries still run by a leftist, after a streak of seven consecutive right-wing election victories in the region since Mr. Trump took office.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cIt\u2019s part of a broader campaign to discredit and harass our movement,\u201d said Gerardo Fern\u00e1ndez Noro\u00f1a, a Morena senator. \u201cWe\u2019re under attack, facing terrible interference from the U.S. government.\u201dIn Ms. Sheinbaum\u2019s daily news conference, that thinking sometimes shines through. She frequently warns of U.S. influence in her country. And when the two nations\u2019 deepening relationship comes up, she frames it with a new favorite motto: \u201ccoordination without subordination.\u201dEric Schmitt and Tyler Pager contributed reporting from Washington, and Steve Fisher and Maria Abi-Habib from Mexico City.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-09-23T09:01:57+00:00",
    "author_name": "Jack Nicas, Emiliano Rodr\u00edguez Mega, Zolan Kanno-Youngs",
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    "ai_headline": "Trump\u2019s New Favorite Neighbor: Mexico",
    "ai_simplified_title": "Trump Deepens Partnership with Mexico in Second Term",
    "ai_excerpt": "President Trump, in his second term, has transformed Mexico from a political punching bag into a key ally. The two nations have expanded cooperation on border security, drug interdiction, and trade, leading to historic lows in illegal crossings and increased commerce.",
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