Yellen Heads to Mexico for Talks on Fentanyl, Economic Ties Christopher Condon and Viktoria Dendrinou - Bloomberg News
go to original December 5, 2023

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks at the IRS about the upcoming tax filing season Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, at IRS headquarters in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to Mexico this week for a series of high-level meetings, including a session with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, focused on stemming the supply of fentanyl into the US as well as building economic ties between the two countries.

“Secretary Yellen will engage Mexican government counterparts to further close cooperation on fentanyl trafficking and meet with banking leaders in Mexico to advance Treasury’s work with the private sector to curb illicit finance tied to fentanyl,” the department said Monday in a statement.

The Biden administration has amped up its fight against the deadly drug at the same time that it’s become a political attack point. Republicans have accused Biden of not doing enough to address the problem and pressured him to enforce a crackdown at the border.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, pledged to send US special forces into Mexico to destroy fentanyl labs and disrupt cartel operations if he’s elected.

Biden’s one clear win in his meeting last month with China’s President Xi Jinping was an agreement for a law enforcement crackdown on Chinese exports of chemicals that Mexican cartels use to manufacture fentanyl.

Yellen, who’s scheduled to arrive in Mexico City Tuesday evening, will visit a government crime lab on Wednesday where she’ll deliver remarks. She’s also set to meet Victoria Rodriguez Ceja, governor of the central bank of Mexico on Wednesday, and with Obrador and her counterpart, Finance Minister Rogelio Ramirez De La O, on Thursday.

Yellen’s trip to Mexico is also part of her effort to advance the administration’s ‘friend-shoring’ push, the idea that the US should strengthen trade relationships with trusted partners to bolster global supply chains, reduce dependence on a small number of nations for critical components and shield the economy from geopolitical risks.

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