World
Mexico Managed to Stave Off Trump’s Tariffs. Now What?
Follow live updates on President Trump’s tariffs and the global fallout.
To broad relief across her country, President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico announced on Monday that she had forestalled a plan by the Trump administration to impose 25 percent tariffs on Mexican goods. Initially set to go into effect at the stroke of midnight, the tariffs have been delayed by a month, she said.
“We have this month to work, to convince each other that this is the best way forward,” Ms. Sheinbaum said at her regular morning news conference after speaking to President Trump. Suggesting that she might be able hold off the penalties altogether, she said she had told her American counterpart: “We are going to deliver results. Good results for your people, good results for the Mexican people.”
The announcement was seen as a victory for the Mexican government in dealing with Mr. Trump, who has set a new tone of aggression in the first weeks of his presidency. He has demanded that even some of the United States’ closest allies acquiesce to his demands or face consequences in the form of tariffs or perhaps even military force.
The deal, however, will force Mexico into a critical 30-day test during which it must not only continue its recent progress but also make still more headway on two of the country’s most enduring challenges: drug trafficking and migration.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mexico will post an additional 10,000 Mexican National Guardsmen on the border. In return, Ms. Sheinbaum said, the U.S. government will work to stop the flow of arms into Mexico.
In his own statement, Mr. Trump made no mention of a promise to help curb firearms trafficking, but he celebrated the deployment of Mexican troops.
While Mexico has spent the past year stepping up its immigration enforcement, which has already contributed to a drastic reduction in U.S. border crossings, the issue of drug trafficking is much more complicated. It will require Mexico to have “a very clear, very well-defined plan,” said Ildefonso Guajardo, a former economy minister who negotiated with the first Trump administration.
Mr. Trump and Thomas Homan, the administration’s border czar, have repeatedly laid blame for the fentanyl overdose crisis in the United States on Mexican cartels as well as on migrants they say move the drug across the border. Mr. Homan falsely told Fox News that Mexican cartels had “killed a quarter of a million Americans with fentanyl.”
Since 2019, Mexico has displaced China as the biggest supplier of fentanyl to the United States. Besides being extraordinarily potent, the drug is very easy to make — and even easier to smuggle across the border, hidden under clothes or in glove compartments. According to U.S. prosecutors, the Sinaloa Cartel spends only $800 on chemicals to produce a kilo that can net a profit of up to $640,000 in the United States.
Mexico has been the source of almost all of the fentanyl seized by U.S. law enforcement in recent years, and the amount crossing the border has increased tenfold in the past five years. But federal data shows it is brought in not by migrants but by American citizens recruited by cartel organizations. More than 80 percent of the people who have been sentenced for fentanyl trafficking at the southern border are U.S. citizens.
“All that makes it incredibly harder to go after and control the market,” said Jaime López-Aranda, a security analyst based in Mexico City.
Ms. Sheinbaum’s administration has already stepped up efforts to combat fentanyl since she took office in October, including the largest seizure of the drug — about 20 million doses — ever recorded in Mexico. Security forces regularly report advances on arrests and dismantled drug-production labs.
But experts question how much of a dent these efforts truly represent. “Mexico can keep carrying out symbolic actions like it has been doing lately,” Mr. López-Aranda said, “but there is little more it can do.”
Waging a full war on the cartels would likely backfire and set off more waves of violence across Mexico, analysts say. The country has experienced those consequences before.
Upon taking office in 2006, President Felipe Calderón declared a war on criminal groups. The idea was to eradicate them and loosen their grip on the country. But targeting cartel leaders and engaging in direct confrontations only led to these groups splintering into more violent, brutal cells, leading to one of Mexico’s bloodiest periods.
“What is even going to happen after we destroy all the labs?” said Mr. Guajardo. “These guys are just going to focus more on extortion, theft and killings. Mexico will be left to deal with the problem alone.”
Under the agreement announced on Monday, Mexico will also bolster security forces at the border. Unlike the United States, Mexico does not have a specific security force dedicated to patrolling the border, instead relying on a combination of the military and National Guard.
Experts questioned how effective a deployment of 10,000 additional troops would be at delivering Mexico’s promised results when it came to fentanyl.
“Ten thousand members perhaps sounds like a lot, but it’s all in the details,” said Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, a drug policy researcher at the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at U.C. San Diego. “If you’re only going to have them at the border, that doesn’t address the entire fentanyl production chain.”
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, noted that this is the third time in six years that Mexico has committed to sending a large deployment of National Guard to the U.S. border.
While Mexico’s forces will “try to achieve results at all costs,” a more effective strategy would be to have officials from both countries share more intelligence and information to stop the flow of drugs, said Jonathan Maza, a Mexican-based security analyst.
The lack of cooperation was something that American officials complained about during the administration of Ms. Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Given the importance to Mexico of avoiding tariffs, Mr. Maza said the National Guard may achieve results in the short and medium term. But, he warned, criminal groups are likely to adapt.
On curbing migration and illegal crossings at the border, Mexico may have a more straightforward path to success, having adopted several effective measures in the last year.
National Guard troops are deployed to immigration checkpoints from north to south, and migration officials have also instituted a policy of “decompression” in which migrants are bused from concentrated areas in the north farther south to keep pressure off the border. The Mexican authorities have used busing on occasion for years, but its expansion in 2024 highlighted the country’s toughening policies on migration.
Breaking up migrant caravans headed for the United States is another step Mexican officials have taken in recent years. When several emerged in the weeks leading up to Mr. Trump taking office, they were all disbanded.
Mexico’s tougher stance, paired with President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s executive order last summer to essentially prevent undocumented migrants from receiving asylum at the border, contributed to a dramatic reduction in illegal immigration at the border in 2024. In December, U.S. Border Patrol officials recorded only 47,326 illegal crossings — a sharp drop from the record 249,740 documented a year earlier.
The Mexican authorities have also introduced bureaucratic hurdles for migrants and asylum seekers.
“Mexico’s strategy has exhausted and worn down migrants,” said Mauro Pérez Bravo, the former head of the National Migration Institute’s citizen council, which evaluates the country’s migration policies. “What it did was to emotionally and physically drain people to keep them from getting to the United States.”
In exchange for deploying troops to the border and stemming the flow of fentanyl and migrants into the United States, Ms. Sheinbaum said she secured Mr. Trump’s agreement to do more to prevent American-manufactured firearms from entering Mexico.
“These high-powered weapons that arrive illegally arm the criminal groups and give them firepower,” she said.
This is not the first time that Mexico has made that argument.
In 2021, the country sued several gun makers and one distributor, blaming them for the devastating, decades-long bloodshed from which Mexico has struggled to recover. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide this year whether Mexico may sue gun manufacturers in the United States. A recent analysis showed that nearly 9,000 gun dealers operate across cities in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.
But in his own remarks, Mr. Trump did not make any mention of Ms. Sheinbaum’s request. It is unclear how his administration could actually fulfill such a commitment and what, if anything, Mexico would do should it fail to do so.
James Wagner, Paulina Villegas and Simon Romero contributed reporting.
Art museum curator and director David A. Ross has left his post at the School of Visual Arts in New York after the latest release of documents about Jeffrey Epstein revealed his friendship with the convicted sex offender.
Ross, who was chair of the MFA art practice program, resigned Tuesday, the school said in a statement, adding that it was “aware of correspondence” between him and Epstein. Ross’ online page at the school was offline Wednesday.
The resignation was first reported by ARTnews.
In emails dating from 2009, Ross banters with, reaches out to meet and consoles Epstein, calling him “incredible” and “I’m still proud to call you a friend.”
In one exchange in 2009, Epstein suggests an exhibition called “Statutory” that would feature “girls and boys ages 14-25 ”where they look nothing like their true ages.” Replied Ross: “You are incredible” and noted that Brooke Shields posed nude at age 10.
Also that year, Ross wrote to console Epstein after the financier had been deposed. “Damn, this was not what you needed or deserved,” Ross wrote. “I know how tough you are, and in fact, it probably bothers me as your friend more than it does you.”
In an email to ARTnews after his resignation, Ross said that he met Epstein in the mid-1990s when he was director of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. “It was part of my job to befriend people who had the capacity and interest in supporting the museum,” he said.
The Whitney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. Ross said he believed Epstein when the financier told him it was “a political frame-up.”
Ross told ARTnews that when Epstein was being investigated again in 2019, he reached out to show his support. “That was a terrible mistake of judgement. When the reality of his crimes became clear, I was mortified and remain ashamed that I fell for his lies.”
Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Ross have been unsuccessful.
In addition to the Whitney, Ross previously held posts at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the Berkeley Art Museum and the Long Beach Museum of Art.
The emails are part of more than 3 million pages of documents the U.S. Department of Justice released on Friday that reveal some of Epstein’s famous associates.
World
US positions aircraft carriers, strike platforms across Middle East as Iran talks shift to Oman
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The U.S. military has bolstered its presence across the Middle East amid escalating tensions with Iran, as nuclear talks were thrown into uncertainty Wednesday before being moved to Oman.
U.S. and Iranian officials had been expected to meet Friday in Istanbul, with several Middle Eastern countries participating as observers.
A senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News Digital that the talks, focused on restarting negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, will now take place in Oman.
“The agreement to move forward with this happened only after several Arab country leaders lobbied the Trump administration today – making the case the U.S. should not walk away,” the source said.
US MILITARY WARNS IRAN IT WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY ‘UNSAFE’ ACTIONS AHEAD OF LIVE-FIRE DRILLS IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Satellite imagery shows American military assets at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base Aoi Two in Jordan as diplomatic efforts continue. (Planet Labs PBC)
Satellite imagery from Plant Labs shows U.S. aircraft, naval vessels and logistical platforms positioned throughout the region at the end of January.
“The military buildup is consistent with a force preparing for a variety of potential strike options,” Philip Sheers, a research associate with the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security, told Fox News Digital.
Sheers cautioned that visible movements alone do not indicate a strike is imminent, saying “positioning of platforms is not the only precondition to preparedness for a strike.”
“Additional maintenance equipment, munitions and intelligence, among other elements, may still be needed before a desired strike can be executed,” he said, adding that “operational details will be classified and are difficult to discern based on aircraft and ship movements alone.”
U.S. naval assets in the region include the aircraft carrier strike group centered on the USS Abraham Lincoln, operating in the Arabian Sea, as well as destroyers deployed throughout the eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea region.
USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN AIRCRAFT CARRIER STRIKE GROUP MAKES MOVE AMID THREAT FROM IRAN
Military assets are deployed across the Middle East, including Ospreys Duqm Airport in Oman, as nuclear negotiations are moved amid escalating tensions. (Planet Labs PBC)
The images of Duqm Airport in Oman appear to show a U.S. V-22 Osprey aircraft, which Sheers, who viewed the images, said could support “search-and-rescue missions to recover personnel after a mission.”
Images from Muwaffaq Salti Airbase in Azraq, Jordan, appear to show C-130 aircraft, which Sheers said could be used for “search and rescue at sea or for other logistics operations.”
“It’s clear that there are multirole combat aircraft stationed here, which would support ground strikes and defensive counterair operations,” Sheers added while stating that helicopters were also visible, though their type, he said, could not be determined from the available imagery.
Sheers also cited the presence of Iran’s Shahid Bagheri drone carrier, saying its potential role could be to “harass, fatigue or distract U.S. surface ships in the area” and force U.S. forces to expend time and munitions defending themselves.
IRAN RESPONDS TO TRUMP PRESSURE WITH WARNING OF RETALIATION: ‘FINGERS ON THE TRIGGER’
Satellite images show the Muwaffaq Salti Airbase in Jordan and C-130 aircraft. (Planet Labs PBC)
Wednesday also saw Secretary of State Marco Rubio say the U.S. would only engage in meaningful talks if they addressed Iran’s ballistic missile program, support for militant groups across the Middle East and its treatment of its own people, in addition to its nuclear activities.
“If the Iranians want to meet, we’re ready. They’ve expressed an interest in meeting and talking. If they changed their mind, we’re fine with that, too. We prefer to meet and talk,” Rubio told reporters at the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial meeting at the State Department.
As previously reported by Fox News Digital, U.S. Central Command warned Iran against what it called “escalatory behavior” in international waters, vowing the United States would protect its personnel and assets.
On Tuesday, U.S. forces shot down an Iranian drone that approached the Abraham Lincoln in international waters, according to U.S. Central Command, underscoring rising tensions.
“What is clear is the United States is moving a variety of intelligence, logistics, search and rescue, strike and air defense platforms into the region,” Sheers added.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“Those are clear signals to Iran of increasing U.S. strike capability, but the potential timing and targets of a possible strike are not clear and may not become clear,” he said.
Fox News’ Gillian Turner contributed to this report.
Published on
With a dangerous spike in cyberbullying and self-harm content to addictive algorithms, concerns about children’s online lives are mounting across Europe.
Should social media be banned for under-16s across the EU? Could that be the answer?
This week on The Ring, Euronews’ weekly debate show broadcast from the European Parliament in Brussels, MEPs Axel Voss and Christel Schaldemose dive into this very question.
This week, Spain’s Prime Minister announced plans to introduce a ban on social media for under-16s. Speaking in Dubai, Pedro Sánchez compared online platforms to the “digital wild west” where laws are ignored, and harm goes unchecked.
France, Denmark, Greece, and Ireland are also exploring restrictions raising the potentiality of a fragmented legal landscape unless the EU steps in.
MEPs voted recently on a non-binding report calling for more ambitious EU action. Most want a minimum age of 16 for social media access. Christel Schaldemose of the Socialists and Democrats group, a vice-president of the Parliament and the lead rapporteur behind the EU’s landmark Digital Services Act is in favour.
Speaking on The Ring, Schaldemose argues that today’s platforms are simply not designed for children. Young users, she feels, are exposed to violence, suicide, bullying, and relentless commercial pressure, while addictive design features keep them online for hours every day.
“What is illegal offline must also be illegal online,” she has repeatedly insisted adding that platforms have failed to act voluntarily. In her view, a ban would send a clear signal — both to tech companies and to society — that children deserve stronger protection.
German MEP Axel Voss of the European People’s Party, a long-time digital policymaker best known for his work on EU copyright rules opposes a blanket ban. Voss agrees that social media can be harmful, not just to minors but to society as a whole. But he warns that banning young people from platforms does not equal protection.
Instead, Voss argues that the focus should be on regulating content, algorithms, and so-called “dark patterns” that drive addiction. Age bans, he says, are easy to bypass and risk ignoring the real problem: business models that profit from attention at any cost. He also raises concerns about freedom of expression and the difficulty of defining “good” and “bad” content in a politically divided Europe.
This episode of The Ring is anchored by Méabh Mc Mahon, produced by Luis Albertos and Amaia Echevarria, and edited by Vassilis Glynos.
Watch The Ring on Euronews TV or in the player above and send us your views by writing to thering@euronews.com
Former Boston Celtics Teammates Reunited In Surprising Trade
Hearings spike in months following change to Denver parking dispute process
UFC Seattle Lineup Nearly Complete with 11 Confirmed Bouts
Local non-profit seeing and recording less people living along San Diego Riverbed
Milwaukee homicide; man charged, loved ones mourn victim
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Video: Fulton County in Georgia Demands Return of 2020 Election Materials
Noem vows criminal prosecution after catching alleged DHS ‘prolific leaker’
Can a social media ban protect children from online violence?
Supreme Court allows California to use new congressional map, giving Democrats a boost
Video: Trump Signs Bill to End Partial Government Shutdown
-
Indiana3 days ago13-year-old rider dies following incident at northwest Indiana BMX park
-
Massachusetts4 days agoTV star fisherman, crew all presumed dead after boat sinks off Massachusetts coast
-
Tennessee5 days agoUPDATE: Ohio woman charged in shooting death of West TN deputy
-
Pennsylvania1 week agoRare ‘avalanche’ blocks Pennsylvania road during major snowstorm
-
Movie Reviews1 week agoVikram Prabhu’s Sirai Telugu Dubbed OTT Movie Review and Rating
-
Indiana3 days ago13-year-old boy dies in BMX accident, officials, Steel Wheels BMX says
-
Culture1 week agoTry This Quiz on Oscar-Winning Adaptations of Popular Books
-
Politics6 days agoVirginia Democrats seek dozens of new tax hikes, including on dog walking and dry cleaning