Mexico in the G20: a guide for Model G20 delegates

Mexico is one of the G20's 19 member countries, which sit alongside the European Union and the African Union. It has been in the group since its first meeting in 1999 and hosted the 2012 leaders' summit at Los Cabos. Today its G20 diplomacy centres on trade, which was worth about four-fifths of its economy in 2025, and on its USMCA partner, the United States, which holds the 2026 presidency. This guide reflects official sources as of 13 October 2026; most Mexican quotations are translated from Spanish.

At a glance

• Member from the start (1999): one of the 19 countries at the first G20 finance ministers' meeting, in Berlin.
• G20 host (2012): presidency from 1 December 2011 to 30 November 2012; summit in Los Cabos, Baja California, on 18 to 19 June 2012.
• President (2024): Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, head of state and government, in office since October 2024 for a single six-year term.
• Key officials (2026): Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco Álvarez, Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard and G20 sherpa María Teresa Mercado Pérez.
• Size (2025): about 131.9 million people and a GDP of about US$1.83 trillion (World Bank), around 14th among the 19 G20 countries on IMF data.
• Groupings: UN (1945), WTO (1995), USMCA (2020) and chair of the Pacific Alliance (2026).

Mexico's G20 story

Under President Felipe Calderón, Mexico chaired the G20 and hosted the Los Cabos summit. The Mexican presidency's five priorities began with "Economic stability and structural reform for growth and employment" and also covered financial inclusion, food security and green growth. Leaders agreed "a coordinated Los Cabos Growth and Jobs Action Plan", said "We are deeply concerned about rising instances of protectionism around the world" and recorded new pledges to the IMF: "The commitments exceed $450 billion". India's 2023 presidency site says the Think20, for think tanks, was "initiated during the Mexican Presidency in 2012".

Mexico's summit representation varies: Raquel Buenrostro, then Economy Minister, led its delegation to New Delhi in 2023; President Sheinbaum attended Rio de Janeiro in 2024; Finance Minister Edgar Amador Zamora went to Johannesburg in 2025. No future Mexican presidency has been announced.

What Mexico wants from the G20

• Jobs and firms protected. The economy ministry said in October 2026 that Mexico's G20 objective "has been to defend Mexican jobs and companies in a changing context".
• Lower US tariffs. Ebrard argues that, thanks to its free-trade treaty, "we have better conditions today, measured by the effective tariff we pay", but says Mexico still needs a cut in US Section 232 tariffs on steel and vehicles. These are Mexico's claims; the US has its own framing, and US Census data show a US goods deficit with Mexico of about US$197 billion in 2025.
• Fair competition in steel. Ebrard puts world steel overcapacity at "more than 60%" (his figure). Mexico signed a joint ministerial statement on global excess capacity on 7 October 2026, according to the US Trade Representative.
• Energy sovereignty. The government says "the first objective is to advance energy sovereignty by producing the energy the country consumes", and plans to lift renewables from 24% to 38% of electricity generation in the coming years. These are government announcements; whether state-led energy policy helps or hurts private investment is disputed.
• Climate finance. At the PreCOP31 meeting in Fiji in October 2026, Mexico urged countries to "meet the commitments made and mobilise the finance needed" and called for a just transition.
• People-centred technology. At the Third Sherpa Meeting, Mexico promoted "people-centred innovation" and emerging technologies that are "safe, reliable and accessible".
• Multilateralism. Foreign Minister Velasco told the UN General Assembly in September 2026 that "when the country defends multilateralism it fulfils a constitutional mandate".

Alliances and groupings

North America. Mexico is a party to the USMCA, called the T-MEC in Mexico, which "entered into force on July 1, 2020". Its Joint Review is still being negotiated, with US public comments due by 12 January 2027 ahead of the "2027 joint review". On security, Mexico describes its cooperation with Washington as "collaboration without subordination"; that is Mexico's own readout, not an agreed joint text.

The 2026 host. At the Milwaukee trade ministerial, the US chair said consensus was not reached on a forced labour statement and named its supporters, "namely Argentina and Mexico". That three-country text is not a G20 agreement, but it shows Mexico backing the host on some files while pressing it on tariffs.

Europe and the Pacific. The EU and Mexico signed a modernised Global Agreement and an interim Trade Agreement on 22 May 2026, still being ratified. Canada lists Mexico as a CPTPP party, and Mexico chairs the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) in 2026.

The UN and the G7. With France, Mexico first presented a declaration on suspending the Security Council veto in mass-atrocity cases in 2015; the two say 128 States now support it. Mexico is not a G7 member, but it attended the 2025 G7 summit in Kananaskis as a guest.

Mexico and India

India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) says Mexico "was the first country in Latin America to establish diplomatic relations with independent India in 1950". The Nobel laureate Octavio Paz was Mexico's ambassador to India from 1962 to 1968, and MEA says Mexican wheat varieties and hybrids developed by Indian scientists in collaboration with Mexican and international scientists, including Norman Borlaug, were "instrumental in the success of Green Revolution in the 1960s".

The relationship is a "Privileged Partnership" (2007); in 2016 the two sides agreed to work towards a "Strategic Partnership". MEA lists no trade agreement, but says "India is Mexico's ninth largest trading partner with a bilateral trade of US$ 11.090 billion in 2025", with Indian exports of US$ 9.13 billion, mainly automobiles, auto parts and pharmaceuticals, and imports of US$ 1.969 billion, mostly crude oil. Over 250 Indian companies operate in Mexico.

Prime Minister Modi and Sheinbaum held their first bilateral meeting on 17 June 2025, at Kananaskis. At Milwaukee, according to Mexico's economy ministry, Ebrard pressed Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal for access to India for Mexican tequila and discussed possible short-term cooperation in pharmaceuticals.

Recent developments

• 23 July 2026: third US-Mexico negotiating round on the USMCA Joint Review, in Mexico City.
• 30 September to 1 October 2026: Ebrard represented Mexico at the Milwaukee trade ministerial.
• 1 to 2 October 2026: sherpa Mercado Pérez and sous-sherpa Farid Hannan Goyri attended the Third Sherpa Meeting in Washington, DC.
• 7 October 2026: Mexico signed the excess capacity statement.
• Next: the Miami leaders' summit, 14 to 15 December 2026. Mexico has not announced who will attend.

Representing Mexico at a Model G20

• Play the current government. Represent the Sheinbaum government, not Calderón's 2012 presidency.
• Likely allies. The US and Argentina on forced labour; other signatories of the global excess capacity statement; the EU and Pacific Alliance partners on open trade; India on pharmaceuticals and market access.
• Likely red lines. Inferred from its statements and its trade profile: wording that treats new tariffs as normal, for a country whose trade equalled about 80% of GDP in 2025; text implying outside control over its energy or security choices; climate pledges with no finance attached.
• Balance the host. The US is both G20 host and USMCA partner. Press for tariff relief in calm, technical language, presenting claims such as the lower effective tariff as Mexico's view.
• Use Mexico's phrases, such as "collaboration without subordination", "people-centred innovation" and a just transition.
• Quote primary texts. The Los Cabos Leaders' Declaration and Growth and Jobs Action Plan (2012), the Mexico-France veto declaration (2026), the foreign ministry's Third Sherpa Meeting release (Comunicado 195/2026) and Velasco's UN speech (2026).

What to do next

Start with how to write a Model G20 position paper, then read how a G20 leaders' declaration is agreed. For background, see the G20 Sherpa Track and Finance Track explained and the 2026 G20 presidency explained.

Model G20 is One Young India's simulation of the G20 summit for students, held as a three-day residential summit at FLAME University.