North America’s Future: Challenges and Opportunities

With President Donald Trump’s 30-day deadline for imposing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada looming, experts highlight the urgent need to rethink North America’s shared future. The central question remains: Do these three nations share a common destiny, or is it time to explore alternative strategies for stability?

Miguel Armando López Leyva, UNAM’s Humanities Coordinator, addressed this issue at the opening of the Third Biennial Congress of North American Studies, themed Shared Future?, alongside the VIII Meeting of the International Association of Inter-American Studies (IAS), titled Possible Futures in the Americas. Organized by the Center for Research on North America (CISAN), the event brought together specialists to discuss the region’s challenges and opportunities.

López Leyva pointed out that tensions among the three nations have escalated in 2025, driven by U.S. policies on Canadian sovereignty, deportations, and tariffs. “Today’s situation is just one part of the complex framework shaping North America, whose dynamics cannot be dictated by unilateral decisions from any one nation,” he explained.

Graciela Martínez-Zalce, Director of CISAN and conference organizer, emphasized the importance of thoroughly examining the challenges posed by the USMCA ahead of its 2026 reassessment. She stressed that shaping North America’s future requires urgent, multidimensional solutions across economic, political, and international spheres.

At the event, Professor Wilfried Raussert of Bielefeld University noted that 2025 marks the start of a new era of U.S. imperialist policies. This shift, he argued, makes forging new alliances with Latin America more pressing than ever, with Mexico playing a key strategic role in this evolving relationship.