Mexiconews

The Quintana Roo state Congress has taken steps to address concerns about violence and extortion involving taxi drivers, stiffening penalties for such crimes and allowing the authorities to open investigations without formal complaints being filed. In a special session convened specifically for this issue, lawmakers on Wednesday passed amendments to the state’s penal code and transportation law. Governor Mara Lezama praised the legislators for their action, the news site Infobae reported. “We had to establish order,” she said, telling reporters that nobody should be able to prevent people from utilizing the transportation of their choice. Penalties for assaults involving transportation and public byways now include the cancelation of licenses, permits and concessions. Sentences for murder and assault involving public or private transportation were also increased. Quintana Roo — home to popular tourist resorts such as Cancún and Playa del Carmen, as well as the islands of Cozumel an...

United States President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is going ahead with his plan to impose 25% tariffs on exports to the U.S. from Mexico and Canada, and the White House press secretary confirmed on Friday they would take effect this Saturday. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said that that the tariff announcement was coming on Saturday. On Friday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the tariffs would be implemented, as planned , on Saturday Feb. 1. “I was just with the president in the Oval Office and I can confirm that … the president will be implementing tomorrow 25% tariffs on Mexico, 25% tariffs on Canada and a 10% tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans,” she said . Leavitt said that a Reuters report stating that the tariffs wouldn’t be implemented until March 1 was “false.” She said she didn’t have any informatio...

Mexican boxing has a new rising star as Olympic silver medalist Marco Verde has officially transitioned to the professional ranks. The 22-year-old native of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, made the announcement Wednesday following months of speculation about his future after captivating Mexico in the 2024 Paris Olympics. By going pro, Verde is setting his sights on a world title in the middleweight division. (Marco Verde/Facebook) Verde reportedly will make his professional debut in May on the same card as super-middleweight champion Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez , who is in talks for a title defense against International Boxing Federation super-middleweight champion William Scull, probably on the weekend right before Cinco de Mayo, which falls on a Monday this year. Having compiled an amateur record of 43 wins and 7 losses, including 15 victories by knockout, Verde is now setting his sights on a world title in the middleweight division, which has a weight limit of 72.57 kilograms (160 pounds). ...

The Mexican economy contracted on a sequential basis for the first time in more than three years in the final quarter of 2024, according to preliminary data from national statistics agency INEGI. Mexico’s GDP shrank 0.6% in the October-December quarter compared to the previous three-month period, INEGI reported on Thursday . The quarter-over-quarter contraction was the first since the July-September quarter of 2021, and larger than the 0.2% economic decline forecast by economists surveyed by Reuters. INEGI’s data showed that Mexico’s primary sector (agriculture, fishing and mining) contracted 8.9% between October and December compared to the previous quarter. The secondary or manufacturing sector also contracted, declining 1.2% compared to Q3, while the tertiary or services sector grew 0.2% on a sequential basis. Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at Mexican bank Banco Base, said on X that the 0.6% quarter-over-quarter contraction “places Mexico on the verge of a reces...

Mexico is poised to reshape local energy markets with a reform that prioritizes state control of the sector and reduces the role played by private companies. President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday submitted six bills to Congress that would allow for public-private electricity generation projects, but only when the state holds a majority stake. Sheinbaum’s proposals pull back on reforms to the Energy Law put in place by Peña Nieto, center, in 2013. His reforms made it easier for foreign energy companies to operate in Mexico. (Emiliano Ruval/Cuartoscuro) Upon unveiling the proposal, Sheinbaum said the proposal would strengthen both the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and the state-owned petroleum corporation Pemex, making them more efficient and transparent. The legislation establishes that at least 54% of all electricity supplied to the national grid must be provided by the CFE, according to the news agency Reuters. The proposal is part of the enabling legislat...

Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard emphasized the success of the USMCA free trade pact and underscored Mexico’s economic commitment to North America during remarks at the 85th annual general meeting of the American Society of Mexico ( AmSoc ) on Wednesday. In conversation with AmSoc president Larry Rubin in Mexico City, Ebrard asserted that the USMCA — which superseded NAFTA in 2020 and is up for review in 2026 — “has been a great success.” Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard speaks at Wednesday’s meeting of the American Society of Mexico. (Travis Bembenek/Mexico News Daily) “I had a meeting the other day with various countries of the world, with their ambassadors [to Mexico] and they told me, ‘We don’t understand why you, the United States, Canada and Mexico, don’t realize that the agreement you have is the envy of everyone,” he said. “The free trade agreement signed in 2019, 2020, between that date and now, made trade and investment increase 37%,” Ebrard said. “That’s the size of the...

Federal and Tamaulipas security authorities discovered on Tuesday a so-called “narco-camp” on an island in the Rio Grande from which suspected cartel gunmen allegedly engaged in a confrontation with United States border patrol agents in Texas on Monday. Soldiers, Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) agents and state police located the camp on a small island called Isla Los Castores near the town of Los Guerra, Tamaulipas, according to media reports. Tamaulipas state law enforcement, along with the Mexican military were involved in the raid on Isla Los Castores Tuesday. (Government of Mexico) They reportedly seized weapons, ammunition, radios and tactical gear from the narcocampamento , where sleeping pads and kitchen utensils were also found. The discovery came a day after U.S. border patrol agents patrolling in Fronton, Starr County, Texas, “received gunfire from cartel members in Mexico,” according to Chris Olivarez, spokesperson with the Texas Department of Public Safety (D...

Google has said it will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” in Google Maps following President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico in the U.S. The announcement came Monday on X , when Google wrote that the new name will be visible to users in the United States once the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is updated.  This part of the Gulf of Mexico, located in Venice, Florida, will soon be referred to as the Gulf of America by Google Maps. (Jim Schwabel/Shutterstock) “When that happens, we will update Google Maps in the U.S. quickly to show Mount McKinley and Gulf of America,” Google said. Mount McKinley, located in Denali National Park in Alaska, was changed from Mount McKinley to Denali in 2015 during the administration of former U.S. president Barack Obama. Denali is a local Athabascan name for the mountain. Google explained that when official names differ between countries, Maps users see the official local name — me...

President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Mexico would disrupt trade flows by US $740 billion, financial services company Moody’s Ratings warned on Monday. They are likely to hit key strategic industries worst, including the automotive, technology and manufacturing sectors. “The effect of tariffs and retaliation [from Mexico] would spill over into direct trade figures between the United States and Mexico, due to intermediate inputs for assembly and processing, which are transferred back and forth within the manufacturing, automotive and technology industries of both countries,” stated Moody’s. The disruption to free trade between the U.S and Mexico — especially if Mexico retaliates with its own tariffs — could have far-reaching effects in Mexico, including peso depreciation and inflation. (Elizabeth Ruíz/Cuartoscuro) Trump first proposed tariffs of 25% on Mexican and Canadian imports after winning the presidential election in November. He said the tariffs would remain in place “until ...

President Claudia Sheinbaum said in November that if United States President Donald Trump were to impose a 25% tariff on Mexican exports, her government would put a retaliatory tariff on U.S. exports to Mexico. The president, however, HAS NOT said that her government is planning to respond to deportations of Mexicans from the United States by deporting U.S. citizens from Mexico. Did Mexico’s president really say, “Get out, Gringos?” A flurry of fake news suggests President Sheinbaum wants to deport Americans living in Mexico, which is the farthest thing from the truth. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro) Despite that, various posts circulating on social media sites such as Facebook claim that Sheinbaum has indicated that her government will consider deporting U.S. citizens in retaliation for the deportation of Mexicans from the United States, where Trump has said he intends to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.” Let’s take a look at the claims, and the fa...

The value of Mexico’s exports hit a record high in 2024, increasing 4.1% annually to more than US $617 billion, the national statistics agency INEGI reported Monday. Data published by INEGI showed that Mexico’s export revenue was $617.09 billion last year, $24 billion higher than the $593 billion in earnings in 2023 . Auto manufacturing grew more slowly than other types of manufacturing, but still brought in nearly US $200 billion in revenue in 2024. (Volkswagen de México) The 4.1% year-over-year growth in export revenue was well above both the 3% prediction of the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology, and the 2.6% annual increase recorded in 2023. The publication of the 2024 export data comes ahead of the possible implementation of tariffs on Mexican goods sent to the United States , which receives more than 80% of all Mexican exports. United States President Donald Trump said last Monday that his administration could impose a 25% tariff on Mex...