Mexico's Crossroads: Navigating Uncertainty With Resilience

The first half of 2025 has been a time of deep uncertainty for Mexico. This stems both from internal factors, such as the sweeping, undeniably democratic changes driven by the Fourth Transformation, including the constitutional reforms born from this new national project, and from external ones, most notably Donald Trump’s electoral victory as the 47th president of the United States and the implementation of extremely aggressive policies toward Mexico, all under the banner of “Make America Great Again.”

We’re all trying to make sense of this new reality — or at the very least, stay alert. The previous model in both countries failed in crucial ways, paving the way for the sweeping success of neo-populist trends now dominant in the governments of Mexico and the United States. The old logic of avoiding market disruption has vanished. Even more troubling, many policies once dismissed as irrational are now proving — at least in the short term — that they can yield results. Societies have shifted their priorities and, swept up in a spirit of economic rationalism, have come to favor immediate gains over long-term vision.

In Mexico, the future is worth MX$3,000 (US$160). Today, much of our “good and wise” people believe — because they feel it in their pockets — that they are living better, and that this well-being is real, without realizing that the current path leads to a crisis of immense proportions. In the United States, a majority of voters placed their trust in a radical right that also sells the present under a false promise of a better tomorrow — and that too will end in catastrophe, one we still can’t fully imagine.

Day by day, we’re bombarded with sensational news that appears monumental, only to be eclipsed by something even more shocking the next day. As a result, we’re losing track of the profound changes reshaping our lives in the medium and long term. The drastic reforms to Mexico’s judiciary, the dismantling of independent citizen institutions, and the barrage of grandiose vanity projects — soon to become white elephants — have only one consequence: an unprecedented concentration of power in our country. Today, the Fourth Transformation has legitimate popular support, but it faces no counterweight capable of curbing its ambition or authoritarian tendencies.

And the same thing happens when we read or watch international coverage of the whims of the most powerful man in the world, Donald Trump, and his verbal assaults on our country and our people. Yes, the entire world is in check, but Mexico is especially vulnerable to the emperor’s whims and rants, and we haven’t yet found a way to defend ourselves. There are ways, perhaps, but they require us to overcome our timidity and act with intelligence. We are victims of our own economic — and likely social and cultural — dependence on the 20th century’s global superpower. And that dependence is largely self-imposed. Despite having an extensive network of free trade agreements with countries around the world, we have failed to truly diversify. At times, it even seems we don’t want to.

What we’ve witnessed is a widespread climate of uncertainty. And uncertainty breeds fear — it stuns, freezes, and immobilizes us. And when we’re frozen, someone else will inevitably step into the empty space we leave behind. Sadly, on both sides of the border, it’s the “bad hombres” who are gaining ground. Social decay in both countries fuels both violence and apathy, two forces that turn into fear.

That’s why I say we’re living in fear this year. In response, we — as a society, as job creators, as business leaders — must not surrender. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but the road ahead will be difficult. First, we must convince ourselves that we have a duty to keep working — that believing in the possibility of building stronger, more sustainable businesses is not optional. We have the power to create jobs and generate wealth, and we must reject the dangerous fiction that people can thrive on government handouts alone. We must commit ourselves to fighting discrimination, not through empty, gentrified words, but through real actions. Especially when the very policies that claim to combat inequality often end up deepening social divides.

We must accept that fear is natural, but it must not paralyze us. Fear is a human response to the unknown and the threatening. But it can be transformed — into motivation, into a survival instinct. Economic resilience is not a dream, it is possible. We've overcome crises before, and we can do it again.

From our own trenches, we must nurture hope through collective action, through solidarity, because it is this virtue that helps a society recover from the decay brewing inside it. We know this: When we work together, challenges become more manageable. And yes, the Fourth Transformation has a valid point: We must support the most vulnerable, because doing so strengthens the entire social fabric. But not through freebees. We must foster hard, responsible work — work with ambition and purpose. Individual and collective efforts build a better future, and the small actions we take each day — helping others, preparing ourselves, innovating — can drive real, lasting change.

We need to stay well-informed and avoid panic. Fake news is everywhere, so we must rely on trustworthy data, not rumors. And in fact, even within this shifting paradigm, many indicators remain positive.

Above all, we must keep our faith in human progress. History teaches us that with unity and perseverance, humanity has overcome wars, pandemics, and economic collapse. Hope is not passive, it is built through action.

Fear doesn’t disappear, but we can choose to not let it rule us. Together, with solidarity and determination, there is always a way forward.