MI’s Mexico Foreign Press Chatter – Oct. 16, 2026

October 23, 2026
12:00 pm

A Wall Street Journal exclusive reported that progress towards a US-Mexico deal has halted after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick objected to significant cuts to the 25% tariff on Mexican cars and the 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum. It is the second time Lutnick has stalled talks with a North American partner: in August, negotiations with Canada collapsed over the same issues, inciting a round of retaliatory tariffs. While Washington holds firm on tariffs, it is also pressing Mexico to buy its way to a deal. The Financial Times examined the role of energy in the US–Mexico trade negotiations, citing sources who said Trump had pressed Sheinbaum to strike more deals with US companies and to buy more from the US. Mexico already relies on its northern neighbour for 70 per cent of its natural gas demand. Bloomberg covered Sheinbaum’s vow to narrow the US trade deficit with Mexico, and also reported that the Mexican business sector is more concerned about domestic security (particularly extortion) and the impact of Morena’s judicial reform than about US trade risks, quoting the president of Mexico’s Business Coordinating Council (CCE), José Medina Mora: “We believe there’s been progress, but we’re far from the Mexico of security, justice and peace that we want”.

Bloomberg and the Financial Times both painted a grim picture of Mexican beach tourism this week, pointing to significant declines in international arrivals driven by environmental factors (“smelly seaweed”) and economic ones (a stronger peso). Bloomberg’s JP Spinetto focused on the “ugly downfall” of Tulum, which, on top of sargassum and overpriced food and lodging, is now grappling with rising crime and inadequate infrastructure. Spinetto argues that much of this could have been prevented through better planning and more responsible development, rather than “anarchic expansion”.

In the week’s big business story, Televisa and Fintech Holdings agreed to buy AT&T’s Mexico business for US$2 billion. Bloomberg reported that the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, would position Televisa to rival Carlos Slim’s América Móvil and make it the first provider in Mexico to offer mobile, internet, pay TV and landline services.

The New York Times reported on President Sheinbaum’s decree banning violent and sexual social media content for under-18s, which Sheinbaum said was a response to a deadly attack at a secondary school in Torreón earlier this month. The decree takes effect in a month, giving platforms time to adjust. Digital rights experts quoted by the Times questioned the legality of regulating content by decree rather than through legislation. The Times also reported on the conviction of three men in Baja California for the 2024 killing of two Australian brothers and an American on a surfing trip. Australia called the verdict an “important step” towards justice, but many Mexicans noted how quickly the authorities had acted when tens of thousands of disappearances remain uninvestigated. Al Jazeera reported the murder of Hamurabi Huesca Manzano, who was shot dead in Oaxaca last week, counting him as the ninth Mexican journalist killed this year.

Across the border, AP reported that the US Army has been inviting reporters to see a quieter Rio Grande as it redeploys hundreds more of its border troops to Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, a surge US officials say follows signs of increased cartel activity. Some experts quoted by AP questioned the need for the build-up just weeks before the US midterms, suggesting it was more political theatre than effective strategy. An LA Times investigation found that cartels are stealing luxury cars from US rental agencies and driving them into Mexico for use in their operations, converting some trucks into armoured “mutant-tanks”.

Notable blogs in English on Mexico

The Mexico Political Economist examined how battery storage has become an essential patch for Mexico’s overstretched grid, with new renewable projects now required to install storage equivalent to 30 per cent of their capacity. Mexico is almost entirely dependent on Chinese batteries, however, and the piece argues that the state must build domestic know-how in a sector too strategic to leave to importers. Ioan Grillo’s CrashOut looked at how the US and Italy beat back mafia rackets, through federal prosecution and grassroots business resistance, for lessons on tackling Mexico’s soaring extortion. On Materia Gris, guest author Georgina Pease’s Forbidden Stories investigation follows Venezuelan journalist Roberto Betancourt, expelled from the US to Mexico and stranded in Tapachula. Miranda Intelligence published its incisive, polymathic daily Mexico reports — spanning Culture, Fintech, Markets, Public Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Energy, Podcasts, Politics and Foreign Press (i.e., what you are currently reading).

• MXPE – Batteries are the shot in the arm Mexico’s failing electrical grid needs

• CrashOut – A History Of Protection Rackets