Mexico’s President Faces New Opportunities and Old Pitfalls

Mexico is poised for an economic windfall of on-shoring and near-shoring. Can President Claudia Sheinbaum capitalize on the opportunity?

En el Salón Francisco Zarco del Antiguo Palacio del Ayuntamiento, sede del Gobierno de la Ciudad de México, la Jefa de Gobierno, Claudia Sheinbaum, acompañada del Secretario de Cultura de la Ciudad de México, José Alfonso Suárez del Real y el Director General de Grandes Festivales, Argel Gómez Concheiro anunciaron en conferencia de prensa Noche de Primavera, celebración en el Centro Histórico de la Ciudad, donde se presentarán 90 espectáculos en diversos escenarios. (Fotografía: Milton Martínez / Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México. Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México)

“Meet Mexico’s soon-to-be first female president,” Paula Soria revealed for the Arizona Republic on June 3, 2024.

President-elect Sheinbaum also has the distinction of being the first Jewish person elected to Mexico’s highest office. Indeed, Ms. Sheinbaum is the first female — and first Jewish — president elected in North America. As such, Sheinbaum’s administration is already groundbreaking.

But Mexico’s newest president faces no shortage of complex issues and challenges — some old, some brand new.

Chief among these challenges will likely be negotiations with U.S. officials over the enormous number of migrants crossing the border. There is also the subject of the U.S. fentanyl crisis. The U.S. fentanyl epidemic, a deadly crisis claiming tens of thousands of lives annually, is intricately linked to Mexico.

Mexican cartels, exploiting their established drug trafficking networks, have become primary suppliers of illicit fentanyl to the United States. They source precursor chemicals from China, manufacturing fentanyl in clandestine labs before smuggling it across the border.