Trade

Mexico’s first judicial elections occurred on Sunday, and the results, while not yet completely final, raise questions about the integrity of the country’s judges going forward (AP News).

State of play: With more than 98% of the vote tallied as of Tuesday night, President Claudia Sheinbaum’s party is poised to control the Supreme Court, with a majority of judges holding ideological or political ties to the ruling party.

• Experts, allied nations and companies that do business in Mexico—including manufacturers—have voiced concerns that judicial elections will turn the judiciary into a political arm of the president’s party.

The background: Before leaving office, Sheinbaum’s mentor and predecessor President Andrés Manuel López Obrador forced through a controversial reform mandating elections for judges.

• The NAM has issued multiple warnings since these reforms were first proposed last year, telling Mexican officials in person that companies investing in Mexico need assurance that their portfolios will be protected under the new judicial regime.
• “We’re concerned that some of the reforms as proposed could harm Mexico’s standing as an attractive place to do business,” NAM Vice President of International Policy Andrea Durkin said on the “Imagen Empresarial” (“Corporate Image”) podcast in September. “Manufacturers pay attention to how banks are factoring these potential changes to the constitution into Mexico’s risk profile.”

More to come: “Votes were still being counted for the majority of the 2,600 federal, state and local judge positions up for grabs in Sunday’s elections.”

The NAM says: “A lack of confidence in Mexico’s judicial system could imperil future U.S. investments, particularly at a time of great uncertainty in trade relations between our countries,” said Durkin today.