Based on 2025 data, it has a map showing the top export partner of each U.S. state. By “top export partner”, it means the #1 country that state exports to.
Canada is the #1 export recipient for 25 states.
Mexico is the #1 export recipient for 12 states: Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California and Michigan.
For Washington and Oregon, China is the #1 export recipient, for Utah and Massachusetts it’s the United Kingdom, for New York it’s Switzerland, for Rhode Island it’s Ireland, for Hawaii it’s Australia, for Indiana it’s Italy, for New Hampshire it’s Germany, for Alaska it’s South Korea, for South Carolina it’s Germany, for Florida it’s Brazil and for Louisiana it’s the Netherlands.
For Washington, D.C., the top export recipient is Saudi Arabia.
It’s interesting. You can check out your state and see what its biggest export recipient is.
As for the big picture, “U.S. goods exports to Mexico totaled $391 billion in 2025, led by electrical machinery, machinery, energy products, vehicles, and plastics.”
Based on 2025 data, it has a map showing the top “import partner” of each U.S. state. By “import partner”, it means import source. In other words, for that state, what is the #1 foreign country it receives imports from?
For 22 states, Canada was the #1 import source. For 8 states it was Mexico.
The 8 states having Mexico as the largest import source were Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Virginia and Michigan.
Then there’s Delaware. In Delaware, Canada and Mexico tied for first place, each importing $988 million.
For five states it was Taiwan and for four states it was China. Germany was the largest import source for two states.
Some foreign countries are top import sources of just one state apiece: Costa Rica (Rhode Island), India (New Jersey), Ireland (Indiana), Japan (Oregon), Malaysia (Idaho), South Korea (Hawaii), Switzerland (New York), Thailand (Nebraska),
Australia was the top import country of Washington, D.C.
It’s interesting. You can check out your state and see what its biggest import source is.
As Visual Capitalist explains, “The share of imports coming from a state’s top trade partner varies dramatically. New Jersey has the lowest concentration in a single top partner. India is its largest source of imports, but its $11.5 billion in goods represents just 7.8% of New Jersey’s $147.8 billion in total imports. At the other extreme, Montana imports 91.4% of its [imported] goods from Canada. This concentration could leave the state more exposed to tariffs, trade disputes, or changes in the price and availability of goods.”
Senator Enrique Inzunza Cazarez is one of the Sinaloa Ten indicted by a U.S. federal court for collusion with the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.
I need to correct that previous report. In fact, Senator Inzunza was not detained by U.S. authorities and is still in the Mexican Senate. I should have done better research and followed up better. I apologize to my readers.
My source for that article was a New York Post article, which in turn cited Mexican news media reports.
I should have checked into it better and followed the story more closely. Sometimes false reports arise in the media, but if we find they are false we should correct them.
Senator Inzunza is still free and is still in the Mexican Senate. But he’s been keeping a low profile and staying away from the Senate. That was easy, as the Senate was in recess during the summer. During a recess, the Comisión Permanente, a mini-Senate is still in session, but Inzunza stayed away from that too.
The Mexican Senate is about to begin a new plenary session, and Senator Inzunza had announced his intention to attend. There are misgivings within Inzunza’s MORENA party about his situation. On August 26, Inzunza announced his departure from the MORENA party delegation of the Senate, to become an independent senator.
Ruben Rocha, who was indicted for collusion with a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, with 10 others, by a U.S. federal court, was Governor of the state of Sinaloa when indicted. So he took a leave of absence, recently returned to the office of Governor, then the next day asked for another leave of absence.
According to the Government of Sinaloa, “Female and Male representatives of the 65th Legislature of the Congress of the State designated Graciela Dominguez Nava as interim governor of the state of Sinaloa, to complete the rest of the constitutional term which concludes October 31st, 2027.”
Interim Governor Dominguez is also a member of MORENA, the party of Ruben Rocha.
From South Africa’s eNCA: “South African police have uncovered a major crystal meth laboratory on the border with Zimbabwe and rounded up several foreign nationals, including two Mexicans, they said on Friday [August 21]. The operation follows a series of drug busts involving Mexican nationals over the past months that have led authorities to suspect Latin American cartels are expanding into Africa. Security forces raided the laboratory late Thursday [August 20] and seized drugs and equipment worth around R600 million, they said in a statement.”
“They arrested two Mexican nationals, two Zimbabweans and a Malawian. The operation was hidden on a farm near the northern border town of Musina in Limpopo Province and ‘exposed an alleged sophisticated, industrial-scale operation’, the statement said.”
“Limpopo’s top cop, Lieutenant-General Jan Scheepers, said he expected ‘more arrests’ and believed the operation was linked to organised crime syndicates. ‘So far, what we could determine is they are sending the drugs which are manufactured here throughout our country and also to our neighbouring countries,’ he said.”
“Asked about any link to Latin American cartels, a police spokesman told AFP: ‘Nationality alone does not establish a cartel link.’ “
No, but when you find Mexicans in Africa involved with a drug lab that might be a pretty big clue!
And these aren’t the first Mexicans arrested in South Africa for similar reasons.
“Police in May uncovered a multi-million-dollar methamphetamine laboratory and arrested 11 suspects, including four Mexicans, on a remote farm northwest of Johannesburg.Authorities estimated the value of the drugs produced there at around 250 million rand.”
And before that,
“In September, police raided another clandestine lab in a rural area about 250 kilometres (155 miles) southeast of Johannesburg, seizing methamphetamine worth 350 million rand and arresting five Mexican nationals.”
South Africa is a big market for meth, as the article explains. Just as in the United States, the drug market operates on supply and demand.
“South Africa is a major consumer of meth and the market for the drug is growing in neighbouring countries and elsewhere in the region, according to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. The Geneva-based agency said in a July 2025 report that drugs labs in South Africa and Mozambique ‘are emblematic of the expansion of Latin American cartels into Africa and cooperation with local criminal groups’ ”.
So in less than a year, eleven Mexicans have been arrested working with meth labs in South Africa. Looks like a pattern.
On August 21st, Ruben Rocha returned to the office of Governor of the state of Sinaloa. Rocha had been on a leave of absence after he was indicted by a U.S. federal court for collaboration with the the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. (See Ruben Rocha Returns to the Office of Governor of Sinaloa).
So Rocha returned to office on August 21st. But on August 22nd, he asked for another leave of absence.
From CBS News: “The governor of a Mexican state who is wanted by the United States on drug trafficking charges abruptly stepped down from his role, one day after returning to office. Sinaloa Gov. Ruben Rocha Moya said in a social media post on Friday [August 21st] that he was resuming leadership of the northwestern state, a role he stepped away from in May to face an investigation by Mexican prosecutors. On Saturday [August 22nd], less than a day later, he shared a document on Xasking the state congress to authorize ‘a temporary leave of absence of indefinite duration, exceeding 30 days.’”
On the 23rd of August, a Sunday, the Sinaloa legislature held a special session and gave Rocha permission to step down temporarily.
From Excelsior: “The Sinaloa legislature unanimously approved a new, indefinite leave of absence for Ruben Rocha Moya, who had scarcely retaken his functions as governor 34 hours earlier to again request a suspension from office.”
The next step?
“With the approval of the state legislature, the process now begins to determine who will be the interim governor of Sinaloa while Rocha is on the leave of absence.”
The state of Coahuila is located on Mexico’s northern tier of states, across the Rio Grande from Texas. Coahuila is arid, with some stunning desert scenery.
Coahuila is the site of an off-road rally-type race, the Coahuila 1000. A rally race is not a race on a circuit race track. In a rally the contestants race their vehicles from point to point on a highway or off-road.
The 2026 Coahuila 1000 was held from August 13th to August 16th. It is said to have generated an economic impact of 75 million pesos in the state of Coahuila. To its credit, there were no injuries, which is noteworthy given that the contestants are racing vehicles through the desert in the month of August.
There were over 400 drivers from 11 countries participating.
The two formats were “the Tourist Route”, which was not a competition, the goal simply being to follow a scenic route from Torreon to Monclova.
The competitive format was the Desert Rally, 1000 kilometers in length, thus the name “Coahuila 1000”. Of the 400 drivers, about 130 competed in the Desert Rally. There were one million pesos of prize money distributed among contestants in 14 vehicles classes.
The Desert Rally began in Torreon, went to Saltillo, and from there to Monclova for the finish line. That’s a lot of desert to pass through!
See the map below, the 3 cities of Torreon, Saltillo and Monclova are in the southern part of the state:
Mauricio Reynoso placed first in the Pro Moto category, and was also the overall champion of the Coahuila 1000. Emilio Velazquez of Oaxaca won the Rookie Award.
Governor Rocha took a temporary leave of absence from the governorship, in order to fight the charges. In the middle of May it was reported that despite his leave of absence he was still involved in the governance of Sinaloa.
But now, Rocha has returned to his post as governor.
From Reuters: “The governor of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, Ruben Rocha Moya, returned to office on Friday [August 21] after taking leave for more than three months following U.S. drug trafficking charges, a move likely to deepen strains between Mexico and the United States. Rocha, 77, a member of Mexico’s ruling Morena party, said in a statement posted on X that he was resuming his duties with a ‘clear conscience’ and his ‘head held high.’ The development marks a remarkable turnaround for Rocha, who has not only avoided, for now, extradition to the United States but has also reclaimed the governor’s office.”
The Trump administration is fighting the Mexican cartels. But I never hear Trump talk about the massive American contribution to the Mexican cartels.
U.S. drug addicts, after all, are the main consumers of the drugs sold by Mexican cartels. That makes American drug users the main financiers of the Mexican drug cartels. I wish President Trump would point that out.
This incident was recently reported by US Customs and Border Protection: “U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations officers at Del Rio Port of Entry recently seized more than $1.7 million in cocaine.”
Here’s how it went down : “The seizure occurred on Aug. 4 at the Del Rio International Bridge when a CBP officer referred a 2013 Dodge Durango driven by a 29-year-old male United States citizen for secondary inspection. CBP officers conducted a secondary examination of the vehicle that included utilization of a nonintrusive inspection system. Upon a physical examination, CBP officers discovered 49 packages containing a total of 129.67 pounds of alleged cocaine hidden within the quarter panels of the vehicle. The cocaine had a combined estimated street value of $1,731,425. CBP seized the narcotics. Homeland Security Investigations special agents have made one arrest and have initiated a criminal investigation.”
Notice, it was a U.S. citizen carting the cocaine across the border. If we don’t recognize the American contribution to the Mexican cartels, how can we effectively fight them?
Although the angry public letter addressed to Trump was attributed to Andy Lopez Beltran, it’s been alleged that it was actually drafted by his dad AMLO.
AMLO in June of 2024, while still President of Mexico Source: EneasMX
Mexico Daily Post also reports that “According to journalist Salvador García Soto, in his column for El Universal, José Ramón López Beltrán and Gonzalo López Beltrán would also have lost their visas to enter the United States.” Those are Andy’s brothers.
“The journalist attributed the decision to a ‘pressure strategy by Trumpism, which has been increasingly escalating in tone and in actions against the political class governing Mexico.’ ”
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