Mexico’s recent election was massive. Literally. There were 98 million eligible voters and 70,000 candidates contesting 20,000 government positions. In this landmark election, Mexico opted to elect its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum. Although this election has significant ramifications for Mexico, the US has also been watching keenly watching with interest. The biggest topics in international relations between Mexico and the US is the border, the economy and drugs/violence.

For the border control, of recently Mexico has been a transit country – a country where migrants pass through Mexico with the United States as the final destination in mind. Previously, Mexico’s president Lopez Obrador would just send these migrants who could not get into the U.S. to the southern part of Mexico. Sheinbaum has campaigned on the fact that she wants the U.S. to help fund the expenses of being a transit state by creating social programs that could address the root causes of migration.

As for the economy, Mexico is now the U.S.’s top trading partner. Although global events such as COVID and the war in Ukraine are more to blame than an intentional shift towards Mexico, the United States has increasingly relied on its neighbors for investments and importations. Problems have arisen because Americans have accused new Mexican policies of breaking the trade agreement. However, so long as Mexico continues to help with the migration issue and to protect the border, the Americans have overlooked the trade disputes as to not raise the tensions. This is just one the two nation’s economies are tied to border control.

When Sheinbaum was the mayor in Mexico City, she implemented a security strategy that effectively tackled gang violence. Although Sheinbaum is Lopez Obrador’s protégé and they’re similar in many policies, there’s a stark contrast between how his administration has tackled gang violence, and how Sheinbaum will approach the problem. One such example is her wish to create a national intelligence agency, which many speculate will operate with U.S. intelligence agencies. However, concerning the drug trade many speculate Sheinbaum will be similarly ineffective. She campaigns on wanting to reduce the demand for illegal drugs by implementing programs, but has not yet elaborated on specifics. Additionally, she has thus far overlooked the synthetic drug problem, where the cartels have diversified and have pumped out more fentanyl and methamphetamine. She hasn’t produced any convincing plan and no new plans would be a win for the cartels because the drug trade is as bad as it has been. Lopez Obrador’s illicit crop substitution program has been noted to be largely ineffective, and Sheinbaum has said that she will continue that problem. That’s not to say that’s a bad thing as there’s no easy solution and an actual solution is likely to be multi-faceted, but it seems as though Sheinbaum doesn’t have an answer to the drug trade issue. Some are optimistic, others are pessimistic, but only time will give us an answer to how effective Sheinbaum will be in curbing the illegal drug trade.

Finally, Sheinbaum’s election is a victory not shared alone as the MORENA party won a super majority in Congress and won seven of nine governorships. With a single party having so much control over the direction of Mexico, it’s going to be important that Mexico respects the checks and balances it has in government and remains a democracy. Overall, Sheinbaum’s election brings Mexico and America both a chance to capitalize on trade and incentive to continue jointly working on border security.