{"blocks":[{"id":"7kwyupdk-zddsdlud","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://nypost.com/2026/07/02/sports/archery-world-champion-mariana-bernal-gets-three-year-steroid-ban/","meta":{"title":"Archery world champion gets three-year ban for steroid test — knocking her out of 2028 LA Olympics","description":"","image":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/crop-39867666.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=171&h=114&crop=1"}},"variant":"compact"}},{"id":"rhyf9acw-7omvz78q","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://nypost.com/2026/07/01/sports/mexico-vs-ecuador-celebrations-caused-artificial-earthquake/","meta":{"title":"Mexico vs Ecuador caused artificial earthquake due to fan celebrations","description":"","image":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/QUAKE.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=171&h=114&crop=1"}},"variant":"compact"}},{"id":"3ryepuey-rni9xz3l","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://nypost.com/video/mexico-pushes-to-extend-usmca-after-trump-says-hed-rather-have-it-terminated/","meta":{"title":"Mexico pushes to extend USMCA after Trump says he’d ‘rather have it terminated’","description":"","image":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/trumpm_wp.png?w=171&h=114&crop=1"}},"variant":"compact"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The US-Mexico relationship is failing. It’s been failing for some time, and its failure is persistent and pervasive."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"It’s driven by a lack of vision and leadership on both sides of the border."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"And if left unchecked or uncorrected, this failure will have disastrous consequences for both nations at home and across the world."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"In Washington, there’s a tendency to approach Mexican relations through policy silos: trade, immigration, drugs, security, democracy and regional stability."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"We’ve tried to deal with immigration and narco-trafficking without tackling regional security or regional economic dysfunction."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"And we’ve allowed identity politics to keep us from working on self-evident problems."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"It is not racist to fix an under-resourced and failing border and immigration system — but it is racist to accept the status quo or demonize its victims in America and Mexico."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"While we’ve focused on conflicts in Europe and Asia, we’ve failed to lead in our own backyard."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Mexico’s failures have fed growing levels of dysfunction and now populism. Leaders’ rhetoric has become more combative without action or practical solutions."}},{"type":"image","data":{"file":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000008572904.jpg?w=1024"},"caption":"\n Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he can sway US elections. REUTERS/Paola Garcia/File Photo"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Mexico’s president last week implied he could sway American elections and American Latinos."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"As mayor of Miami, I can assure you any foreign leader who claims such power is gravely mistaken."}},{"id":"cxenlpn9-ihq5qfb4","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://nypost.com/2023/03/18/mexicos-lopez-obrador-claims-lack-of-hugs-caused-us-fentanyl-crisis/","meta":{"title":"Lack of hugs caused US fentanyl crisis, Mexico’s leader says","description":"","image":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/newspress-collage-26190254-1679125562064.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1679111228&w=171&h=114&crop=1"}},"variant":"compact"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The hard truth is these issues are not separate nor separately fixable — they’re interrelated, interlinked parts of a larger challenge and can only be fixed as an integrated whole."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Instead of approaching the US-Mexico relationship piecemeal, both nations need to link issues of national security with economic security as part of a comprehensive deal that empowers the United States and Mexico, de-powers China and Russia and secures a strong path for shared prosperity."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"In short, reversing the US-Mexico relationship’s decline means dealing with everything, everywhere, all at once."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Succeeding with the Mexican president is not guaranteed given his record. But it signals a start for the next president and the next generation across Latin America that wants live free and prosper."}},{"type":"header","data":{"text":"First, we need to link re-shoring our economies to securing our borders.","level":2}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The United States and Mexico could facilitate the return and realignment of American manufacturing and supply chains from China and near-shore them back in North America."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"This could be tied to economic zones in Mexico that would support US supply chains and manufacturing needs."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"These zones would help absorb the labor needs and immigration pressures in Mexico and across the region."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"They would also add to Mexico’s economic rebound."}},{"type":"image","data":{"file":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000008526875.jpg?w=1024"},"caption":"\n Migrants getting taken into custody by Border Patrol near Mount Cristo Rey, New Mexico on March 20, 2023. James Keivom"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"In return, the Mexican government would secure and stabilize the US-Mexico border by working to eliminate human trafficking and reversing the explosion in uncontrolled border entries across the region."}},{"type":"header","data":{"text":"Second, we need to link energy independence to shared prosperity.","level":2}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The United States and Mexico are energy superpowers with rising costs and aging infrastructure."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Both nations should open and integrate their energy sectors to diversify power generation, drive down energy costs and expand access."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"This would also make North America less vulnerable to unstable energy markets and provide jobs outside the drug economy."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Securing energy independence for both nations will strengthen the economy and security."}},{"type":"image","data":{"file":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000006726415-2.jpg?w=1024"},"caption":"\n Fentanyl made in China and sold by Mexican cartels have killed thousands of people in Mexico and the United States. DEA"}},{"type":"header","data":{"text":"Third, we need to link stopping fentanyl to stopping cartels and stopping China.","level":2}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Mexico is the front line in ending the influx of fentanyl from China."}},{"id":"53053kho-xs0f5atg","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://nypost.com/2023/02/18/tracking-fentanyls-deadly-path-china-to-mexico-to-america/","meta":{"title":"Tracking fentanyl’s deadly path from China to Mexico to ODs in America","description":"","image":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/map-revise-fentanyl.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=171&h=114&crop=1"}},"variant":"compact"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Like the opium trade of the past, fentanyl is manufactured in China and then trafficked through Mexico."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"It’s enriched China, empowered the cartels and destabilized Mexico."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"It’s also killed thousands of Mexicans and Americans for far too long."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Addressing it means disrupting the supply chain and the support network."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The US-Colombia agreements offer a template that incentivizes Mexico as a full and equal partner in reversing fentanyl transmission while also justifying the use of American assets to reverse the fentanyl influx."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"

"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"We need to stop accepting failure and those who profit from it."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Both nations have the talent and interests to fix a set of problems that are solvable, self-evident and self-inflicted by both sides."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":""}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Neither the United States nor Mexico can afford to see the relationship fail."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The risks are real, but the rewards are great in reversing the decline of a vast strategic relationship. We just need the imagination and the leadership to achieve it."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"It’s time for our leaders to act more and talk less."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Francis Suarez is mayor of Miami."}}]}

Francis Suarez

NypFrancisSuarez@RoundtableIO

How America and Mexico can work together to drive out fentanyl and fix the border crisis