Cofepris ordered Colgate-Palmolive to recall its Colgate Total Active Prevention Clean Mint Toothpaste from Mexico’s shelves immediately, and asked that consumers stop using the toothpaste and contact the company to return the product. 

The commission’s warning responds to reports from an unspecified number of consumers of adverse reactions. Cofepris said symptoms included:

• Oral irritation
• Gum inflammation
• Oral pain
• Tooth sensitivity
• Ulcers, canker sores, or boils
• Allergic reaction

Cofepris recommended consulting a health care professional if any of those symptoms are experienced. It also noted that symptoms varied from person to person and did not specify which ingredient was causing the symptoms from the toothpaste, which is manufactured in Mexico.

“It is reported that the recall is limited exclusively to the Colgate Total Active Prevention Clean Mint Toothpaste,” Cofepris clarified in a statement.

In July, Argentina’s National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technology banned the use, distribution and sale of Colgate Total Clean Mint in all presentations and sizes following reports of adverse reactions. 

In addition, 11,441 adverse cases were reported in Brazil since the product’s launch in July 2024 to June 18, 2025, suggesting there could be a problem with the formula. 

“The product marketed in Brazil shares the same qualitative and quantitative formula, origin, and manufacturing plant with the one marketed in Argentina,” the Argentine agency said about the toothpaste. 

Cofepris said it will maintain surveillance to prevent producers, services or establishments from violating its decree. It also said it will inform the public if it identifies new evidence.  

The commission provided its contact information for concerned consumers: farmacovigilancia@cofepris.gob.mx

With reports from El Financiero

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Canada and Mexico, which share a free-trade agreement (USMCA) with the United States, have been making moves to strengthen their strategic partnership as trade relations falter between the U.S. and its North American allies.

During their two-day visit to Mexico City August 5-6, Anand and Champagne attended meetings with Sheinbaum and their respective Mexican cabinet counterparts, aiming to advance shared priorities such as economic growth, regional security and bilateral trade.

“We strengthened the relationship between our countries,” Sheinbaum wrote in a post to X, which included several photographs of the meeting.

On July 16, President Sheinbaum held a phone conversation with the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in which the two agreed to strengthen trade collaboration.  

“We both agreed that the [USMCA] trade agreement needed to be respected,” Sheinbaum said in her daily press conference following that call. 

The president also said that Carney planned to visit Mexico in an official capacity. Although the date has not been set, the visit by Anand and Champagne lays the groundwork for Carney’s trip.

“It was a pleasure to receive Min. Anita Anand and Min. François-Philippe Champagne at the Embassy of Canada in Mexico.

It was a great opportunity to socialize, answer questions, acknowledge the work of our employees, and talk about the relationship between Canada and Mexico”. https://t.co/1CfA7eHq5G

— Canada in Mexico (@CanEmbMexico) August 6, 2025

Anand and Champagne planned to meet with a representative group of Canadian and Mexican business leaders, including key players in the integrated North American economy, trade infrastructure and supply chains. Anand will also participate in a joint session of the North American Committee and the Mexican Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, aimed at strengthening parliamentary relations between the two countries.

“Canada and Mexico are close partners that are united by decades of diplomatic, economic and security cooperation,” Anand wrote on X after meeting with Sheinbaum on Tuesday. “…Discussions with the President and members of her government advanced key shared priorities in terms of economic growth, security and trade diversification.” 

As Mexico and Canada work to deepen their ties, the two countries have faced strained trade relations with the United States in recent months, following the imposition of tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump. 

With reports from Sin Embargo, El Economista and Reuters

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However, Mexico’s share of the U.S. market fell from 15.9% in the first six months of 2024 to 15% from January through June 2025 as U.S. imports rose at the global level. 

Mexican exports to the U.S. climbed despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to introduce new 30% tariffs on non-free-trade agreement (USMCA) goods — a plan that has been put on hold for 90 days following a month of negotiations with Mexican President Sheinbaum’s cabinet.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s imports of U.S. products rose by a significantly lower rate of 1.1% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, totaling $168.17 billion.

The differential in Mexican exports and imports caused Mexico’s trade surplus with the United States to increase by 16.7% to $96.21 billion, edging closer to that of China, which fell 12.4% year-over-year, to $111.48 billion. That surplus has been one of Trump’s pretexts for his aggressive trade stance toward Mexico.

One of the takeaways from the recent trade negotiations between the United States and Mexico was President Sheinbaum’s appearance of abidance to Trump as regards the trade surplus, even to the point of Mexico encouraging its nation’s companies to “buy American.”

In recent months, Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper imports and 25% on automobiles and certain auto parts from Mexico. He also introduced 25% tariffs on non-USMCA products, which could increase to 30% unless Sheinbaum can convince the U.S. president not to raise the tariffs by the October deadline.

After another round of successful negotiations, what is Mexico doing to achieve permanent tariff relief?

Overall, U.S. export and import levels both increased in the first half of the year, despite the imposition of tariffs on several countries, which encouraged many states to introduce reciprocal tariffs. U.S. global foreign purchases climbed by 12.7% to almost $1.8 trillion. Conversely, exports increased by 5% to reach $1.08 trillion.

Even with its reduced market share, Mexico remained the U.S.’s largest trading partner in the first half of 2025, followed by Canada (13%) and China (7.9%).

With reports from El Economista

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After a 40-minute phone call with President Claudia Sheinbaum, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to delay the 30% tariff he had threatened to impose on Mexico starting Friday on products not covered by the USMCA free-trade agreement. Sheinbaum said the delay was the “best possible agreement.”

How Sheinbaum closed the deal on this week’s tariff reprieve: Thursday’s mañanera recapped

As the two powers try to establish a common solution to trade concerns, one issue at the top of the list is Mexico’s growing bilateral trade surplus.

“We are working on our trade policy to become less dependent on countries with which we don’t have trade agreements and try to buy a little more from the United States without harming our industry,” Mexico’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce at the Economy Ministry Luis Rosendo Gutiérrez told the newspaper El Economista. 

Over the coming months, the Mexican government aims to identify more U.S. product source markets for companies established in Mexico and encourage firms to “buy American” to reduce the trade surplus. 

“We are working to identify, by tariff code, what we import from Asia or from countries with which we don’t have a trade agreement, in order to bring in some products … from the United States,” said Rosendo. 

“If not only the government but also private companies stop or reduce purchasing from countries with which we do not have a trade agreement, and purchases of U.S. products are strengthened, without generating inflation, it is clearly a way to reduce the U.S. trade deficit,” Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference on July 25. 

Between January and May, Mexico’s trade surplus with the United States rose by 16.6% to a record high of $79.442 billion, marking five consecutive years of record-breaking surpluses. This was far higher than Canada’s trade surplus of $27.381 billion during this period. 

Almost 85% of Mexican exports fall under the USMCA, while a 25% tariff is imposed on exports outside of the agreement, with tariff discounts on automotive exports. This puts Mexico in a more favorable position than Canada, which now has 35% tariffs on non-USMCA goods. 

Rosendo praised Sheinbaum’s “cool-headed” negotiation strategy for encouraging Trump to delay the proposed tariffs.

Por instrucciones de la Presidenta ⁦@Claudiashein⁩ avanzamos en la mesa de negociación comercial bilateral con ⁦@USTradeRep⁩ instalada el viernes pasado. Con la participación de ⁦@Hacienda_Mexico⁩ ⁦@SRE_mx⁩ y de ⁦@SE_mx⁩ ⁦@m_ebrard⁩ pic.twitter.com/zrvaYqKqz8

— Luis Rosendo Gutiérrez (@LuisRosendo_) July 17, 2025

“It seems to me that what was seen with Canada’s differentiated treatment of Mexico is a reflection of the strategy each country has adopted,” said Rosendo. “From the beginning, Canada decided to take a somewhat more antagonistic role with the United States.”

In a letter in July, Trump told Sheinbaum of his intention to impose a 30% tariff on imports from Mexico because, in his view, Mexico wasn’t doing enough to combat the trafficking of fentanyl to the United States.

However, Mexico has made significant progress in combating the fentanyl crisis in recent months, having seized large quantities of the synthetic opioid and dismantled over 1,000 clandestine labs where that drug and others were made.

Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente said that following the most recent call with Trump, Sheinbaum instructed the negotiating team to maintain and strengthen channels of communication with the U.S. government as it restores stability to its North American trade relations.

With reports from El Economista, El Financiero, El Universal and The New York Times

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The project will include a large-scale cable car line, like that of México state’s Mexicable, and a “cablebús” system, similar to that of Mexico City, which seats 10 passengers in each unit. 

The plan has the full support of Oaxaca City Mayor Raymundo Chagoya. “I really like the idea,” Chagoya said. “Oaxaca will shine much more with a cable car.”

The mayor also alluded to the aesthetic appeal of aerial transport over one of Mexico’s most beloved cities. “As an additional attraction, we will really enjoy seeing the city from above,” he said.

Although the route is not yet finalized, one possible route would connect two favorite tourist attractions — the Cerro del Fortín, where the annual Guelaguetza festival takes place, and the Álvaro Carrillo Theater. 

However, Governor Jara stressed that the principal aim of the cable car system is to improve urban mobility by connecting strategic points within the city.  

Another aim is to connect Oaxaca’s city center with the mountainous suburbs. One route under assessment would link the city with the Monte Albán archaeological site, around 10 kilometers away. 

Governor Jara said the state plans to finance the project without relying on debt. 

5 new Cablebús lines are coming to Mexico City 

While on Sunday, Governor Jara was presenting the aerial tram plans for Oaxaca, in Mexico City President Claudia Sheinbaum and Mayor Clara Brugada were announcing the construction of the Tlalpan-Coyoacán Cablebús Line 4, which is expected to be the longest in the world. 

The new line will be paid for using federal funds and is expected to transport 65,000 people per day over 11.4 km, which is further than the existing Iztapalapa line (11.2 km). 

¡Impulsamos el progreso desde las alturas!
La Línea 4 del Cablebús Tlalpan-Coyoacán será una realidad, y en la CFE estaremos orgullosos de ser parte fundamental de este proyecto que transforma la movilidad en la Ciudad de México.

Con el impulso de la presidenta… pic.twitter.com/UJ3D0eFddI

— CFEmx (@CFEmx) July 29, 2025

On the ground, moving between Los Pedregales to the University City of Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM) can take up to two hours in rush hour traffic, compared to the 40 minutes expected via Cablebús, noted Sheinbaum. 

Line 4 will consist of eight stations: Universidad, Cantera, Perisur, Mercado Hidalgo, Reforma, Parque Morelos, Cultura Maya and Pedregal de San Nicolás. 

It will also connect more than 30 neighborhoods in Tlalpan and nine in Coyoacán and will have connections to other public transportation modes, such as the Metro, allowing commuters to travel between the north and south of the city, according to Mexico City’s Transport Minister Ulises García.

Five Cablebús lines are expected to be completed during Brugada’s six-year term, with construction on the Álvaro Obregón-Magdalena Contreras and Milpa Alta-Tláhuac lines commencing this year, and the Cuajimalpa-Xochimilco line in 2026.

With reports from El Universal Oaxaca, Estado Actual, Milenio and El Financiero  

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According to Rauber, more than three dozen Brazilian companies stand ready to invest in the development of factories, production lines, data centers and distribution centers in major Mexican cities like Monterrey, Saltillo, Querétaro, Tijuana, Guadalajara, Ciudad Juárez and Mexico City.

Mexico and Brazil eye expanded trade deal ahead of August meeting

“Today, at the Chamber, we are presenting 42 projects from Brazil from companies that want to open markets or make investments here in Mexico,” Rauber said. 

Currently, 48 Mexican companies are established in Brazil, though that number pales in comparison to the 716 Brazilian companies operating in Mexico. Mexican brands with operations in Brazil include the automotive Numak, the food company Bimbo and the telecommunications firm América Móvil. Rauber pointed out that roughly 19.7% of internet use by Brazilians goes through Claro, a company owned by América Móvil.

Also of note, the Mexican convenience store chain Oxxo has opened 500 stores across Brazil in just two years, though there are apparently a few glitches. “You know the difference between Oxxo in Brazil and Oxxo in Mexico?” joked Rauber. “There [in Mexico], the second cash register actually works and they have change.”

Rauber’s announcement of the 42 interested companies followed a call between Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum and her Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula) on Wednesday. The two leaders agreed that a delegation led by Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin would visit Mexico on Aug. 27 and 28. 

“We followed up on the agreement to welcome in Mexico authorities and business people from Brazil, with the aim of deepening our collaboration on various issues,” Sheinbaum wrote on social media.

HAY OXXO EN BRASIL?!?!?!?! https://t.co/qizOgPFo5e

— lex | bts is back (@berriesnsprite) March 11, 2025

Meanwhile, Lula said on social media that the pair had “discussed the expansion of the Brazil-Mexico trade agreement, highlighting the potential of the pharmaceutical, agricultural, ethanol, biodiesel, aerospace, innovation and education sectors as strategic areas in our bilateral relationship.”

Bramexcam represents companies across a wide range of sectors, including the automotive, aerospace, pharmaceutical, chemical and agribusiness industries.  

According to the business chamber, some of the principal exports between the two countries include:

Products exported from Brazil to Mexico:

• Soybeans – US $547 million
• Automobiles – $477 million
• Steel – $453 million
• Engines – $413 million
• Lumber – $171 million

 Products exported from Mexico to Brazil: 

• Auto parts – $628 million
• Automobiles – $403 million
• Chemicals – $233 million
• Electronics – $192 million
• Computers – $188 million

With reports from Forbes

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The latest National Survey of Urban Public Safety, released by the national statistics agency INEGI on Thursday, revealed that the residents of Puerto Vallarta, in the state of Jalisco, view their city as very safe, with just 21.4% of the population raising security concerns. 

Survey respondents viewed Mexico as a whole to be less safe than last year, with 63.2% of over-18-year-olds surveyed saying they considered it unsafe to live in their area, compared to 59.4% in June 2024. 

While the overall security perception has worsened, the average daily number of murders decreased by 21, to 65.6 in June, compared to 86.9 in September 2024, the last month of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term in office, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System. 

The safest city according to perception was San Pedro Garza García, which is the wealthiest municipality in Mexico. 

The cities or municipalities with the lowest perception of insecurity according to the survey were:

• San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León – 11% (of surveyed residents viewed as unsafe)
• Piedras Negras, Coahuila – 16.9%
• Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco – 21.4%
• Benito Juárez borough, Mexico City – 22%
• Saltillo, Coahuila – 23.5%

There was a significant gender gap in the perception of safety in urban areas, with 68.5% of women reporting insecurity across Mexico compared to 56.7% of men.

A year after El Mayo’s capture, Sinaloa’s capital is seen as Mexico’s most dangerous city 

Meanwhile, 32.5% of participants expect crime and insecurity in their city to remain equally bad over the next year, 25.4% expect it will worsen, and 25.1% think it will improve. 

Survey participants viewed Culiacán, the capital of the northern state of Sinaloa, as the most insecure, with 90.8% of residents feeling unsafe, compared to 44.7% last year. 

The public perception of Culiacán’s security has deteriorated amid an ongoing war between the “Los Chapitos” and “Los Mayos” factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was triggered after Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was allegedly kidnapped and taken to the U.S., where he was arrested in July 2024. 

With reports from Informador and El Financiero

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Brazil has adopted a new protocol that allows for the import of Mexican avocados, Mexico’s Agriculture Minister Julio Berdegué Sacristán announced on Tuesday. 

“Good news! The Brazilian Agriculture Ministry has informed me that it has published a protocol allowing for the importation of Mexican avocados, the best in the world, to [our] sister nation, to the delight of its 200 million consumers,” Berdegué wrote on the X social media site. 

Mexico is the largest global producer of avocados, contributing around 34% of the global volume, according to figures from Mexico’s National Committee of the Avocado Product System. The west-central Mexican state of Michoacán contributes around 84.9% of the country’s avocado production by volume, according to Mexico’s Agriculture Ministry. 

Other avocado-producing states include Jalisco, México state, Nayarit, Morelos and Guerrero.

The new Brazil market, though significant, isn’t likely to put much of a dent in the United States’ lead in imports of Mexican avocados. The U.S. receives 80% of Mexico’s avocado exports by volume, followed by Canada with 7% and Japan with 3%, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Brazil itself also grows avocados. Production of the fruit there has risen by 74.09% over the past five years, increasing from 242,723 tonnes in 2019 to 422,545 tonnes in 2023. The state of São Paulo contributes roughly 50% of the national total.

However, rising domestic demand has outpaced local production in recent years, which has led the South American country to import more avocados. 

The implementation of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Plan México has supported initiatives that broaden Mexico’s trade links, including with South America. 

Two-way trade between Mexico and Brazil was worth more than US $16 billion in 2023, according to the Economy Ministry. Brazil sold more than $12 billion worth of goods to Mexico, while Mexico’s exports to South America’s largest country totaled just over $4 billion.

Brazilian and Mexican authorities are in talks to revise the current trade agreement between the two countries, which was signed in the early 2000s. 

With reports from Sin Embargo and El Universal

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Pfizer cited Mexico’s decline in its vaccination coverage in recent years as motivation for its awareness campaign, which includes the promotion of its soon-to-be-introduced 20-valent pneumococcal vaccine — a formula protecting against seven more pneumococcal infections than the previous 13-valent version.

“We are very interested in promoting vaccination, not only in Mexico but worldwide,” Cruz Salazar said in an interview with the newspaper El Economista. “Interest in getting vaccinated has decreased, and we are very interested in reaching every person … and prevent[ing] diseases that constantly threaten us.”

The decline in vaccinations can be traced to a global shortage of vaccines, but misinformation also plays a large part.

Vaccination of young children in Mexico has dipped to around 78 or 80%, compared to 95% a few years ago, Dr. César Martínez Longoria, a specialist in pediatrics and pediatric infectious disease, said during a recent Pfizer panel entitled “From Birth to Aging: Vaccines for Life.”

Martínez blamed that decline partially on parents not understanding the importance of vaccinating their children, including for illnesses that no longer exist in Mexico, such as diphtheria and polio.

“They ask why they should vaccinate their child against something that isn’t in Mexico,” Dr. Martínez said. “It doesn’t exist here because we’ve continued to vaccinate against it.”

Life expectancy in Mexico increased from 51 years in 1960 to 73 in 2023, which Dr. Martínez stressed is largely owing to the wide coverage of vaccines.

Pfizer’s pneumococcus vaccine will be manufactured in Ireland before being shipped to its Toluca plant to be labelled and packaged for distribution. 

Pfizer labels, stores and distributes products to 10 Latin American countries and regions: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Central America, from its Toluca facility. 

The New York-based pharmaceutical company invests between US $12 million and $15 million in its Toluca plant each year, where it employs 420 people and has an annual manufacturing capacity of 194 million units. 

In January, Pfizer Mexico announced plans to increase its investment in Mexico, particularly in clinical research. Pfizer’s Medical Affairs Director Yéssika Moreno said that President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration’s plans to improve the regulatory environment for clinical research in the country make it more attractive for Pfizer to invest. 

With reports from El Economista

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Starting in May, the regional Intragovernmental Group on Sustainability (GIS) has conducted acoustic monitoring in strategic points off the coast of San Felipe, Baja California, to better understand where the vaquita seeks natural refuge and assist future census missions.

Vaquitas are shy, small porpoises native to the Gulf of California. Their population has severely declined over the last two decades, largely due to a boom in the illegal fishing of totoaba.

In 2024, the annual vaquita census expedition co-led by the nongovernmental organization Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Mexico’s Natural Protected Areas Commission (CONANP) returned only six to eight specimens, down from between eight and 13 in 2023. 

However, sound monitoring operations carried out in the upper Gulf of California have logged 41 acoustic encounters with the vaquita, representing a step forward in conservation.

An acoustic encounter is like a ping that helps scientists map the location of mammals like the vaquita, which emit sounds at a higher frequency than is detectable by the human ear.

Shhh, vaquita are talking. Hydrophones record the vaquita and help scientists know where to visually observe them. Visit https://t.co/cGLTZfbeQv. pic.twitter.com/Z7UBgTz9GS

— Sea Shepherd US (@SeaShepherdSSCS) July 14, 2025

The number of acoustic encounters does not directly confirm that there are 41 vaquita in the upper Gulf of California — the same vaquita may trigger an acoustic encounter more than once — though the high number of encounters means the vaquita population is likely larger than recorded in 2024. 

“We have new records, more records, and I think that is a sign of hope,” said the Environment Ministry’s Deputy Minister of Biodiversity and Restoration Marina Robles García on Wednesday, during the GIS’s second session of 2025. 

“There is a juvenile that had not been seen for six or eight years, and that tells us that there may be other areas that are being used as refuge by the vaquita.”

Annual Sea Shepherd observation cruises will be carried out from Sept. 3 to 13 in the region to conduct a new population census.

Alejandro Olivera, the Mexican representative for the Center for Biological Diversity, does not expect the vaquita population to increase substantially in 2025, however.

Given the prior census figures and the fact that the vaquita’s gestation period is longer than a year, repopulation will be a gradual process, he said in an interview with the newspaper La Jornada.

On Friday, the Environment Ministry (Semarnat) announced that it had strengthened its conservation efforts to include maritime patrols, ghost net removal, environmental education, sustainable production alternatives and scientific monitoring, in coordination with state and local actors.

While conservation efforts have improved in recent years, Olivera stressed the need to enhance efforts in line with the 2023 Action Plan.  

The installation of geolocation systems on small vessels, the use of alternative fishing nets, coordination with Interpol to stop poaching and greater organization among the governments of Mexico, the United States and China to prevent the illegal trafficking of totoaba could enhance conservation work, according to Olivera. 

With reports from La Jornada and Once Noticias

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