LatinNews Daily - 16 April 2026

*Mexico’s Finance Minister Edgar Amador Zamora has met US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent to discuss “ongoing economic cooperation between the United States and Mexico” according to a social media post by Bessent. According to a statement from the US Treasury Department, the two “continued their discussions on the U.S.-Mexico Action Plan on Critical Minerals” which was signed in February in Washington and is aimed at boosting cooperation and investment in mining projects to extract and process critical minerals, and “engaged further on the outlook” for the review process of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) which is taking place this year. The two also discussed efforts to continue strengthening bilateral cooperation in combatting drug trafficking and illicit finance. This comes as the US has ramped up sanctions, targeting the financial networks of organised crime groups.