World
In Face of Trump Tariffs, Mexico Embraces Nationalism
Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, stood underneath a giant Mexican flag and before troops at a military installation in Mexico City. It was Flag Day last month and she used her speech as an opportunity to, figuratively and literally, rally around it.
“Mexico must be respected,” she said, adding later: “Its people are brave. We know that when our people unite around their history, their country and their flag, there is no force in the world that can break their spirit.”
Times had changed, she said: Mexico would not bow down to foreign governments.
Given the circumstances — President Trump’s steep tariffs against Mexico went into effect in the first minutes of Tuesday — Ms. Sheinbaum’s optics were fitting. As Mr. Trump once again targeted Mexico, using the hammer of tariffs as a negotiating tool, a sense of Mexican nationalism has been strengthened.
The Mexican government and businesses have rekindled a “Made in Mexico” campaign. Some Mexicans have called for boycotts of U.S. companies and products, while others have put together lists of Mexican stores and brands to support instead of American ones.
Ms. Sheinbaum is frequently featured on the front page of local newspapers with members of the country’s military or in front of a giant Mexican flag. Private companies have taken out nationalistic advertisements, one featuring the president leading the masses and carrying a banner saying, “Mexico united, never defeated!”
And Ms. Sheinbaum, who has been trying to balance a pro-Mexico drumbeat while advocating cooperative dialogue with American officials, has seen her approval ratings rise as high as 80 percent, according to one poll. She has not only succeeded a popular president, Andres Manuel López Obrador, who reshaped Mexican politics and was her mentor, but has come into her own at a time of global upheaval under Mr. Trump.
“There’s a lot of support for the president now,” said Juan Manuel Sánchez, 57, an artisan in Mexico City who also praised Ms. Sheinbaum’s crackdown on drug trafficking.
During his first term, Mr. Trump used tariffs to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and strike a new U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement, which he signed in 2020. He has used similar tactics now against Mexico and Canada, while arguing that too many illegal drugs and migrants are flowing from the two countries into the United States.
A month ago, Mr. Trump signed an executive order calling for 25 percent tariffs on Mexican imports. But less than a day before they were to go into effect, Mr. Trump and Ms. Sheinbaum spoke on the phone and announced an agreement to delay them for 30 days.
Under the terms of that deal, Mexico posted an additional 10,000 Mexican National Guards troops on the border to help stem the flow of fentanyl and migrants into the United States. In return, Ms. Sheinbaum said, the U.S. government would work to stop the flow of guns into Mexico.
Even though the number of migrant crossings at the southern border has dropped to once unthinkable levels since Mr. Trump took office in January, Mexican officials were significantly deterring migration to the United States months before. Last week, Mexico sent nearly 30 top cartel operatives wanted by American authorities to the United States, one of the largest such handovers in the history of the drug war.
“There’s a lot of unity in the country in the face of what is happening,” including Mr. Trump’s economic threats, Ms. Sheinbaum said on Monday, hours before the tariffs took effect.
Although Mr. Trump insisted on Monday that the tariffs would begin the next day, the cloud over Mexico from the north has loomed since his most recent presidential campaign. It led to uncertainty and frustration but also boosted national pride.
Agustin Barrios Gómez, a former Mexican congressman and a founding member of the nonprofit Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, said that even Mexicans who didn’t vote for Ms. Sheinbaum “understand that right now, Mexico’s national interest — beyond party politics — is to rally around our president.”
One reason for the surge in support for her, Mr. Barrios Gómez said, was to ensure Ms. Sheinbaum has enough political capital within the country to be in a stronger negotiating position with Mr. Trump come what may.
Nationalism is complicated in Mexico, Mr. Barrios Gómez said, because it is so intricately intertwined with the United States geographically, culturally and economically, as well as with immigration and security.
“We are not neighbors, we’re roommates,” he said. In other words, analysts said, the U.S. tariffs against Mexico will hurt both economies, as would the reciprocal tariffs suggested by Ms. Sheinbaum. (Mr. Trump is also threatening separate 25 percent tariffs on global steel and aluminum imports, which would affect Mexico.)
For Mexico, the tipping point against the United States has not been reached, Mr. Barrios Gómez said late last week before the tariffs went into effect, but “if you call someone your enemy enough, you might just turn them into one.”
The specter of a trade war between the countries has changed the perception in Mexico of Mr. Trump and of its relationship with the United States.
According to the Mexican polling film Buendía & Marquéz, the number of respondents in Mexico who believed the relationship between Ms. Sheibaum and Mr. Trump was at least good dropped significantly between last November and February, while the number of respondents who have a negative opinion of Mr. Trump jumped to 80 percent in mid-February from 66 percent in early January.
Mr. Trump has nevertheless praised Ms. Sheinbaum as a “marvelous woman” while mocking Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau. Mr. Trudeau, who has become increasingly unpopular at home, is entering his final days in office while Ms. Sheinbaum’s popular foundation is stronger. She resoundingly won election last summer and began her six-year term in October.
During her Monday morning news conference, Ms. Sheinbaum once again called for calm ahead of Mr. Trump’s tariffs deadline and said she hoped to strike a last-minute deal, which did not materialize. “Obviously we don’t want there to be tariffs,” she said, adding that her government would respond.
Since before Mr. Trump’s inauguration, her administration has been promoting what it calls “Plan Mexico,” a strategy meant to diversify its economy to make it less dependent on the United States, to reinvigorate Mexican manufacturing and propel the country to become one of the world’s top 10 economies. (It is currently the 15th largest, according to the International Monetary Fund.)
As part of that effort, Ms. Sheinbaum’s administration started the “Made in Mexico” drive, in which an official seal is placed on products made in the country that meet certain requirements. The seal, with an illustration of a Mexican eagle, was created in 1978 to promote Mexican goods and has been revived by presidents over the years.
As the threatened U.S. tariffs were paused a month ago, Mexico’s secretary of economy, Marcelo Ebrard, told companies that the government wanted to once again push the “Made in Mexico” seal.
Last week, Walmart Mexico, the largest private employer in the country with 200,000 workers, unveiled its efforts to put the “Made in Mexico” seal — with the added word “proudly” — in the aisles of its 3,000 stores throughout the country. Although Walmart is an American brand, Javier Treviño, Walmart Mexico’s senior vice president of corporate affairs, said the company wanted to show customers that it is a Mexican entity and that most of the products it sells are made within the nation.
The campaign “is very important for us because we have to strengthen investment and confidence in Mexico and ensure that the economy can grow, because the environment is not easy,” Mr. Treviño, a former Mexican congressman, said in an interview.
Other big companies have joined Ms. Sheinbaum’s push, including Grupo Modelo, the brewing giant that makes Corona and Modelo beers, which announced it would put new “Made in Mexico” caps on bottles.
On Saturday, Mr. Sánchez, the Mexico City artisan, was at his neighborhood market, which, he said, proved that he prefers to shop locally. Before Mr. Trump’s tariffs went into effect, he said he might consider boycotting U.S. companies and products if they did.
Unlike in Canada, where locals have been shunning American products and buying more Canadian flags since Mr. Trump threatened the tariffs, Mr. Sánchez said that Mexicans were already nationalistic and that most had a flag.
“But when something very serious happens here,” he said, “we all unite.”
Maria Abi-Habib contributed reporting from Mexico City.
A 3-D rendering of an Iranian Shahed-136 drone, a device with two triangle-shaped wings attached to a central fuselage. It has an engine the size of a small motorcycle’s and carries 110 pounds of explosives.
Engine the size of a small motorcycle’s
Carries 110 pounds of explosives
One of the biggest takeaways of the war with Iran is that it has proven itself to be a surprisingly capable adversary against the United States. In addition to its willingness to go on the offensive, Iran has forced the U.S. and its regional allies to confront the rise of cheap drones on the battlefield.
Iranian drones, made with commercial-grade technology, cost roughly $35,000 to produce. That is a fraction of the cost of the high-tech military interceptors sometimes used to shoot them down.
Cheap drones changed the war in Ukraine, and they have enabled Iranians to exploit a gap in American defense investments, which have historically prioritized accurate but expensive solutions.
Countering drones has been a major priority for the Pentagon for years, according to Michael C. Horowitz, who was a Pentagon official in the Biden administration. “But there has not been the impetus to scale a solution,” he said.
In just the first six days, the U.S. spent $11.3 billion on the war with Iran. The White House and Pentagon have not provided updated estimates, but the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, estimated in early April that the U.S. had spent approximately between $25 and $35 billion on the war, with interceptors driving much of the cost. Many missile defense experts also fear interceptor stockpiles are now running dangerously low.
Here is a breakdown of some of the ways the U.S. and its allies have countered Iran’s drones, and why it can be so costly.
Air-based strikes
In an ideal scenario, an early warning aircraft spots a drone when it is still several hundred miles out from a target, and a fighter jet, like an F-16, is dispatched from a military base. The F-16 can then use Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) II rockets to shoot a drone from about six miles away.
A 3-D rendering of an F-16 fighter jet firing an APKWS II rocket from under one wing. Two to three rockets are fired per drone, as per air defense protocol. Two APKWS II rockets and an hour of F-16 flight cost approximately $65,000, a little less than twice that of the Iranian Shahed-136.
Two to three interceptors fired per drone
These types of defensive air patrols are cost-efficient, but haven’t always been available because of the vast scope of the conflict. Iran has also targeted early warning aircraft that the U.S. needs to detect a drone from that distance, according to NBC News.
The other option for detecting and shooting down drones is a variety of different ground-based detection systems, but these systems are all at a disadvantage, as their ability to spot low-flying drones is limited by the curvature of the earth.
Anti-drone defense systems
One ground-based defense system the U.S. and its allies have built specifically to counter drones at a shorter range is the Coyote. It can intercept drones up to around nine miles away.
A 3-D rendering of a Coyote Block 2 interceptor, which looks like a three-foot tube with small rockets at one end. Two Coyotes cost approximately $253,000 or about seven times that of the Iranian Shahed-136.
The Coyote is significantly cheaper than many of the other ground-based defense systems available to the U.S. and its allies and historically effective at defending important assets. But despite being both effective and cost-efficient, relatively few Coyotes have been procured by the U.S. military in recent years.
When Iran-backed militias launched attacks on U.S. ground troops in the region in 2023 and 2024, there were so few Coyotes available that troops had to shuffle the systems between eight different bases in the region almost daily, according to a report from the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank.
Ship-based anti-missile defenses
Many of the longer-range ground-based defense systems the U.S. and its allies can use to combat drones are more expensive, as they are designed to shoot down aircraft and ballistic missiles, not drones. A Navy destroyer’s built-in radar system, for instance, can detect drones from 30 miles away and shoot it down with Standard Missile 2 (SM-2) interceptors. As in the air-based strikes, military protocol stipulates that at least two missiles be fired.
A 3-D rendering of the deck of a Navy destroyer firing an SM-2 missile from a built-in launcher, which looks like a 15-foot missile launching from a grid of openings on the ship’s surface. Two SM-2 missiles cost approximately $4.2 million, about 120 times that of the Iranian Shahed-136.
This misalignment between America’s defense systems and current warfighting tactics started after the Cold War, when the anticipated threats were fewer, faster, higher-end projectiles, not mass drone raids.
Iran often launches multiple Shahed-136 drones at a time, given their low price tag. The drones are also programmed with a destination before launch and can travel roughly 1,500 miles, putting targets all across the Middle East within reach.
“This category of lower-cost precision strike just didn’t exist at the time that most American air defenses were developed,” said Mr. Horowitz.
Ground-based anti-missile defenses
The Army’s standard air-defense system is the Patriot. Typically stationed at a military base, it can shoot down a drone from up to around 27 miles away with PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors. Military protocol stipulates that at least two missiles be fired.
A 3-D rendering of a Patriot launcher loaded with 17-foot PAC-3 MSE missiles, which looks like a tilted shipping container with scaffolding. Two PAC-3 MSE missiles cost approximately $8 million, about 220 times that of the Iranian Shahed-136.
Patriot missile defense system
Air defense training teaches service members to prioritize using longer-range defense systems first to “get as many bites at the apple as you can,” but those are the most expensive, said Stacie Pettyjohn, a senior fellow and director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security.
But a costly defense can still make economic sense to protect a valuable target, especially those that are difficult to repair or replace, such as the nearly $1.1 billion radar at a military base in Qatar and the $500 million air defense sensor at a base in Jordan that were damaged early in the conflict.
Ground-based guns
Finally, there is what one might call a last resort: a ground-based gun. When a drone is about a mile away or less than a minute from hitting its target, something like the Centurion C-RAM can begin rapidly firing to take down the drone.
A 3-D rendering of a Centurion C-RAM, which looks like a gun mounted to a rotating, cylindrical stand. The gun fires 75 rounds of ammunition per second. Five seconds of firing the gun costs $30,000, slightly less than a single Iranian Shahed-136.
Centurion Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar
Fires 375 rounds of ammunition in 5 seconds
Even though it is fairly cost-effective, the Centurion C-RAM is not the best option because it has such a short range.
Interceptor drones
There’s also what one might call the future of fighting drones: A.I.-powered interceptor drones. Interceptor drones like the Merops Surveyor can theoretically hunt and take down enemy projectiles from a short range.
A 3-D rendering of a Surveyor drone, which looks like a three-foot tube with wings and a tail. The Merops drone costs approximately $30,000, a little less than a single Iranian Shahed-136.
Merops system: Surveyor drone
Eric Schmidt, the former Google chief executive, founded a company to develop the Merops counter-drone system in conjunction with Ukrainian fighters, who have already been combatting Iranian drones in the war with Russia for years.
The U.S. sent thousands of Merops units to the Middle East after the conflict began, but it is unclear whether they have been deployed. The military set up training on the system in the middle of the war, as reported by Business Insider.
Other attempts to lower the cost-per-shot ratio of taking out a drone have failed.
The Pentagon invested over a billion dollars in fiscal year 2024 researching directed energy weapons, or lasers, that would cost only $3 per shot and have a range of 12 miles. Those systems have yet to be used in the field.
Despite the cost imbalance, the real fear for many in the defense community is the depleted stockpile of munitions.
“What scares me is that we will run out of these things,” said Tom Karako, the director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “Not that we can’t afford them, but that we’ll run out before we can replace them.”
World
Moscow-born gunman dead after Kyiv shooting rampage leaves at least 6 dead, 14 wounded: Zelenskyy
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A Russian gunman was killed by special forces Saturday in Ukraine after opening fire at a supermarket in Kyiv, killing six people and wounding 14 others — including a 12‑year‑old boy.
The 58-year-old shooter long resided in the Donetsk region and was born in Moscow, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
He took at least four hostages, killed one of them, and fatally shot four others on the street, Zelenskyy said. Another woman died at a hospital from her injuries.
Graphic video captured by witnesses showed the gunman shooting at a victim within close range on the street. Other bodies were seen lying on the pavement and in courtyards.
The gunman was seen walking with a weapon on the street. (Obtained by Will Stewart)
MANHUNT UNDERWAY AFTER GUNMEN STORM CHICK-FIL-A LEAVING 1 DEAD
Ukranian special forces stormed the convenience store after 40 minutes of failed negotiations, according to Klymenko.
At least fourteen people were wounded in the attack, though officials cautioned the number may rise as people continue to seek medical assistance.
Among the injured is a 12‑year‑old boy and a supermarket security guard, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
The gunman was pictured dead in the convenience store. (Obtained by Will Stewart)
NINE DEAD, 13 WOUNDED IN SECOND TURKISH MASS SHOOTING IN TWO DAYS
Zelenskyy said the shooter also set fire to an apartment prior to the attack, though it is unclear if any injuries resulted from the arson.
“My condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims,” Zelenskyy wrote in an X post. “…We wish all the wounded a swift recovery.”
The gunman had previously been prosecuted for criminal offenses, but held a valid weapons permit, according to authorities. Investigators from the National Police and the Security Service of Ukraine are investigating.
The gunman was seen holding and shooting a weapon in the street. (Obtained by Will Stewart)
GUNMAN OPENS FIRE AT HIGH SCHOOL IN TURKEY, WOUNDING AT LEAST 16
Ukraine’s security service labeled the attack an act of terrorism.
“All available information about him and the motives behind his actions is being thoroughly investigated,” Zelenskyy said. “Every detail must be verified.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
One of the shooter’s neighbors, Hanna Kulyk, 75, described him as an “educated, refined man,” who lived alone and did not socialize often.
“You’d never guess he was some kind of criminal,” Kulyk told The Associated Press.
Top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says US naval blockade of Iran’s ports is ‘a clumsy and ignorant decision’.
Published On 18 Apr 2026
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGC) says the Strait of Hormuz is closed and that any ship that attempts to pass through the waterway will be targeted, a dramatic reversal less than 24 hours after the critical shipping lane was reopened.
In a statement carried by Iran’s Student News Agency, the IRGC navy said on Saturday the strait will be closed until the United States lifts its naval blockade on Iranian vessels and ports. It said the blockade was a violation of the ongoing ceasefire agreement in the US-Israel war on Iran.
list of 4 itemsend of listRecommended Stories
“We warn that no vessel of any kind should move from its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and approaching the Strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted,” it said.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and a senior negotiator in talks between Washington and Tehran on ending the war, said in a television interview that “the Strait of Hormuz is under the control of the Islamic Republic”.
“The Americans have been declaring a blockade for several days now. This is a clumsy and ignorant decision,” he added.
The reassertion of control came just hours after Iran had briefly reopened the strait, in line with a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. Oil prices dropped on global markets after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that the waterway was “completely open for all commercial vessels.”
More than a dozen commercial ships passed through the waterway before the IRGC reversed course.
Iranian gunboats reportedly fired on two commercial ships on Saturday, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). India’s Ministry of External Affairs also said that two Indian-flagged ships were involved in a “shooting incident” in the strait.
Some merchant vessels in the region received radio messages from the IRGC Navy, warning that no ships were being allowed through the strait.
US President Donald Trump said Tehran could not blackmail Washington by closing the waterway and warned that he would put an end to the ceasefire if a deal before its expiry on Wednesday is not reached. Trump added that the naval blockade would “remain in full force”.
Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, meanwhile, said the navy was ready to inflict “new bitter defeats” on its enemies.
‘Two competing blockades’
Al Jazeera correspondent Zein Basravi said that Iran and the US are back where they were the previous day.
“Less than 24 hours ago, world leaders were praising what they thought was a breakthrough in this conflict, hoping Iran was signalling a confidence-building measure by opening the Strait of Hormuz, potentially leading to a ceasefire deal and a permanent end to the war,” he said.
“As disappointed as people may be, this isn’t entirely surprising. What we’re seeing now is a return to square one,” he added, saying there are now “two competing blockades in place”.
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Tehran, said Iran was using the strait to send a message.
“It’s clear that Iran is dealing with a situation in which they are not sure what’s on the table. So the Strait of Hormuz is once again the only space for engagement, even if it’s a negative engagement. And it’s the space where they are sending and conveying messages to the Americans, showing their leverage,” he said.
-
News15 minutes agoReal estate investors are buying up long-term care facilities. Residents can suffer
-
Detroit, MI2 hours agoFormer Piston shows Detroit what they’re missing as he dominates next to LeBron
-
San Francisco, CA2 hours agoEastbound I-80 closure in San Francisco snarls traffic, slows business
-
Videos2 hours agoCan Keir Starmer survive the latest Mandelson revelations? | BBC News
-
Dallas, TX3 hours agoPetar Musa’s Brace Not Enough as FC Dallas Draws LA Galaxy 2-2
-
Miami, FL3 hours agoMLS: Messi double helps Inter Miami slay Rapids in front of huge crowd
-
Boston, MA3 hours agoFrom across Boston they flock to play for Latin Academy boys’ tennis, a co-op of 29 schools – The Boston Globe
-
Denver, CO3 hours agoDale Kistler Obituary | The Denver Post