Mexico - May 2026

We begin this May edition of the Latin American Regional Report: Mexico by looking at the country’s new foreign minister, Roberto Velasco Álvarez. At 38 years old and viewed as a leading expert on US relations, Velasco at once signals a generational changing of the guard within the government’s ranks and a tactical reinforcement of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s strategic priority of managing relations with the US administration of President Donald Trump. However, Velasco will face many challenges as he takes over the role at a particularly delicate time, as this opening article explains.

The next article concerns an oil spill that was first detected in early March and spread extensively cross the Gulf of Mexico, contaminating hundreds of kilometres of coastline. After insisting the state-run oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) was not to blame, on 16 April the government admitted that a leak in a Pemex pipeline was the cause of the spill. The government announced dismissals and highlighted clean-up and community support efforts. However, the damage, both political and environmental, may have already been done.

After, we turn to a mass shooting which took place at the Teotihuacán pyramids and ruins, one of Mexico’s most famous archaeological sites, on 20 April. The lone gunman attack, which differed from the cartel violence more commonly seen in Mexico, has raised questions around the security protocols in place at Mexico’s major tourist attractions, coming just months before the country is set to welcome over 5m tourists for the Fifa football World Cup in June.

Fracking is the subject of the next piece. Once a fierce opponent of fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing, President Sheinbaum is controversially proposing to develop the practice in order to access Mexico’s unconventional natural gas deposits so that the country can reduce its reliance on US imports, as Mexico struggles with disruptions to global energy markets caused by the war in Iran.

The following piece considers Mexico’s steel sector, which is set to receive a much-needed boost after President Sheinbaum pledged that her government would purchase steel produced nationally as part of her flagship Plan México, which is designed to strengthen domestic industry and supply chains.

The final article in this issue examines a recent decision by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) to remove Mexico from its priority watch list for Intellectual Property (IP) Protection and Enforcement. Mexican officials have interpreted this as a positive sign ahead of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) review, as this piece explains.