On November 30, after more than a year of negotiations, the leaders of Mexico, the United States and Canada signed off on the text of a new deal to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), to be known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in the United States and T-MEC in Mexico.

The sight of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador being driven in a modest Volkswagen Jetta to his inauguration as Mexico’s next president accompanied by a token security detail was proof enough, if any were needed, that a new wind is blowing through the corridors of power in Mexico City.

In a move greeted with widespread incredulity in Mexico, President Enrique Peña Nieto has bestowed the Aztec Eagle Award on Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, for his role in securing a satisfactory resolution to the recent trilateral trade talks.

“Emotion, uncertainty, hope and fear” was how one Guadalajara radio commentator summed up the mixed mood of the nation this week, just days before Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes the oath of office as the next president of Mexico.

Robin Matthewman, the new United States Consul General in Guadalajara, advises U.S. citizens who are traveling or living in Mexico to do themselves a favor by registering with the U.S. State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).

President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will depend on Mexico’s military as a key element of his public security strategy despite his previous fierce criticism of the policies of the country’s past two presidents deploing soldiers and marines in law-enforcement duties.