Judy Ley Allen México Centered

Mexico is the United States’ largest trading partner and home to a formidable industrial base. So why has its economy continued to underperform, with GDP growth of just 0.7 percent last year?

Roberto Salinas-León, president of the Mexico Business Forum and director of the Atlas Network Initiatives for Latin America, joined “México Centered” host Tony Payan to discuss the structural challenges inhibiting Mexico’s economic growth and...

The Mexican press has played a vital role in the democratization of Mexico — not just reflecting political transformations, but propelling them. That’s the history that Andrew Paxman, lays out in his new book “Mexican Watchdogs: The Rise of a Critical Press Since the 1980s.”

Paxman joined the “México Centered” podcast to discuss the various challenges to press freedom throughout modern Mexican history and what may lie ahead in th...

From the “Baker Briefing” podcast: A water crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border is growing. The 1944 Water Treaty has long guided how both nations share the Rio Grande and Colorado rivers, but climate change, drought, and growing demand are testing its limits.

Guest host Tony Payan speaks with Rosario Sanchez, a senior research scientist at the Texas Water Resources Institute, and Ivonne Cruz, a research scholar at the Baker Institu...

Political cartoons serve as a powerful visual commentary on major figures, events, and issues. Paco Calderón, a cartoonist who has documented much of Mexico's political and social landscape, joined "México Centered" to discuss his work and approach.

More about Tony Payan, Ph.D.: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/tony-payan Follow Tony Payan on X (@PayanTony) and LinkedIn.

Follow @BakerInstMexico on X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky. Su...

Each year, hundreds of thousands of cars are imported illegally into Mexico from the United States. These unregistered “chocolate cars” — a play on the word “chueco,” which means “crooked” in Spanish — not only crowd out the national light vehicle market, but often fail to meet pollution and safety standards and can be used in serious crimes.

The used car industry in the U.S. is partially responsible for allowing the vehicles to en...

In this episode of “México Centered,” experts Isabella D’Alacio, John Lindsay-Poland, and Gerardo Álvarez join Tony to shed light on the dangerous flow of firearms from the U.S. into Mexico. They explore how criminal networks traffic powerful weapons across the border, the cultural and political obstacles to reform, and the ongoing efforts to curb the ill...

Tony Payan joined David Satterfield, director of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and host of the “Baker Briefing” podcast, to discuss the challenges Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is facing — both domestically and in its relationship with the United States.

On April 24, 2025, we hosted the inaugural webinar of our “Binational Dialogues” series, titled “Mexico’s Economy Today” and featuring José Antonio Meade Kuribreña. Meade offered an in-depth analysis of the current state of Mexico’s economy, followed by a thoughtful conversation with Tony Payan, director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico. 

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