An article in Rolling Stone reports that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is discussing plans for a “soft invasion” of Mexico to combat drug cartels.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum insists Mexico will never allow itself to be treated as an unequal partner in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

According to the National Public Security System, half of all intentional homicides in Mexico over the past six years have been concentrated in just seven of the country’s 32 states: Guanajuato (10.3% of the national total), Baja California (8%), the State of Mexico (7.6%), Chihuahua (6.7%), Jalisco (6%), Guerrero (5.9%), and Nuevo León (5.4%).

The Mexico-U.S. relationship finds itself in a state of flux, with Donald Trump’s return to the White House looming on the horizon.

The 2025 federal budget projects economic growth of two-to-three percent next year (although studies by non-governmental analysts have put the expectation at one percent) and a deficit reduction of 3.9 percent of GDP, driven by decreased spending in key ministries such as defense (the worst affected with a 50-percent cut in funding), energy, security, tourism, culture, the environment and others.

It’s not only Donald Trump that Mexico needs to be wary of in the coming months and years; loud conservative Canadian voices are also making themselves heard.