2025 Legislative Delegation Visit to Mexico City

  At the end of October 2025, the California Border Issues Project convened its annual Legislative Delegation Visit to Mexico, returning this year to Mexico City. 

The delegation included seven state legislators, joined by representatives from business, organized labor, agriculture, public safety, and local government. 

The visit came at a moment of renewed focus on the California–Mexico relationship, underscoring the state’s deep economic ties with Mexico and the strategic importance of sustained cross-border collaboration.

California’s economic relationship with Mexico remains central to the state’s long-term competitiveness. In 2024, California exported approximately US $33.5 billion in goods to Mexico—nearly 18% of all California exports—while total two-way goods trade reached US $91.3 billion. More broadly, U.S.–Mexico trade surpassed US $800 billion in recent years, with Mexico becoming the United States’ largest trading partner in 2023. These figures highlight the high level of cross-border economic integration and the extent to which California’s global position depends on a healthy, predictable, and modernized U.S.–Mexico relationship. They also point to strategic policy opportunities for California—particularly in nearshoring, supply-chain resilience, workforce collaboration, and regional infrastructure.

On the delegation’s first full day, members participated in a joint session with Mexico’s Senate Commission on Northern Border Affairs, the Commission on Foreign Relations for North America, and the Mexico–California Binational Affairs Committee. 

Convened by Senator Juan Carlos Loera de la Rosa, the session sought to strengthen long-term cooperation with California, the U.S. state with the largest population of Mexican-born residents. 

Senate President Laura Itzel Castillo praised the initiative and condemned recent incidents targeting Mexican migrant workers in the United States.

  The joint session featured two in-depth working meetings. The first focused on expanding economic ties and modernizing cross-border commerce. Senator Karina Ruiz described the Senate’s outreach in Los Angeles, including hearings on reducing remittance-tax burdens—an issue with major financial implications for California’s Mexican diaspora. Senator Alejandro Murat proposed assembling a joint technical team to identify new opportunities under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA/T-MEC) and to coordinate legislative approaches that better align regulatory frameworks across borders. Senator Emmanuel Reyes Carmona emphasized California’s global economic significance and called for deeper binational partnerships to strengthen shared prosperity and position North America as a more competitive region.

 The second day opened with a policy briefing at the U.S. Embassy, led by U.S. Economic Counselor Hilary Renner and senior officials from the Foreign Commercial Service, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Commerce, and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Embassy staff outlined ongoing efforts to support U.S. citizens and businesses in Mexico, including facilitating overdue VAT refunds and providing guidance for companies expanding production under nearshoring trends. California delegation members raised opportunities for closer federal–state coordination on persistent pollution issues in the Tijuana River, including potential pathways for binational infrastructure financing and enforcement cooperation.

  Later that day, the delegation received a high-level briefing from Guillermo Bernal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico. Bernal warned of the accelerating challenge posed by China’s dominance in global manufacturing and emphasized the strategic imperative of a unified North American production ecosystem. With Mexico now the United States’ top trading partner and nearshoring accelerating, he noted that manufacturing job growth in Mexico correlates strongly with job creation in the United States, illustrating the co-production model that increasingly defines regional supply chains. He further emphasized that USMCA remains the foundation for the fair-trade norms the U.S. seeks to advance globally. Following the presentation, members met with leaders from U.S.-based companies operating in Mexico—including Cargill, Kenworth, Meta, Sempra, Uber, and Valero—to discuss market opportunities, regulatory challenges, and strategies to ensure California remains a competitive gateway for North American trade and investment.

  The delegation concluded its visit by learning about and observing Mexico City’s Día de los Muertos celebrations, gaining a deeper appreciation for the cultural significance of a holiday that not only honors ancestors but also reflects Mexico’s enduring values of family, memory, and community—traditions that continue to inspire cultural exchange across borders.

Several policy considerations and recommendations that came about as a result of the delegation’s visit include:

1. Establishing a California–Mexico Nearshoring Task Force
   Modeled on Senator Murat’s proposal, California could jointly convene state, federal, and Mexican counterparts—alongside industry and labor stakeholders — to identify regulatory reforms, infrastructure needs, and workforce partnerships that maximize nearshoring opportunities.
2. Expanding binational environmental infrastructure investment
   Persistent cross-border pollution issues—particularly in the Tijuana River watershed—require formalized cooperation with U.S. federal agencies, the Mexican government, and the North American Development Bank (NADBank). California could spearhead a dedicated funding compact or multi-year remediation plan.
3. Strengthening migrant-worker protections and support systems
   Given ongoing concerns regarding treatment of Mexican nationals in the U.S., California can advance state-level protections, labor-rights enforcement, and binational information-sharing to support migrant communities and ensure compliance with labor standards.
4. Creating a California–Mexico Innovation and Workforce Exchange
   Given the interdependence of manufacturing growth in both countries, California could establish an exchange program involving community colleges, industry training centers, and Mexican technical institutes to      prepare a binational workforce aligned with advanced manufacturing and clean-energy production.