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Latin America & Caribbean
Mexico and Brazil are exploring ways to boost their trade ties, and there’s certainly room for improvement: bilateral commerce between Latin America’s two largest economies amounted to just $13.6 billion last year. That’s less than 10% of Brazil’s trade with China, and not even 2% of Mexico’s trade with the US. While the two countries have historically competed for dominance, the Trump administration’s latest tariffs and the election of left-wing leadership in both Brazil and Mexico have motivated closer cooperation.
Here’s a look at where trade between Brazil and Mexico currently stands.
A banner announces the construction of a photovoltaic solar farm in Cabaiguan, Cuba, on May 21, 2025.
55: China is financing 55 new solar power projects in Cuba this year, the latest sign of how it is overtaking Russia as the crisis-wracked island’s main benefactor. Some of Moscow’s recent projects in the communist country have stalled: a Russian firm pledged two years ago to revitalize a sugar mill that once employed 2,000 people, but it still sits idle.
3%: In a win for US President Donald Trump, Canada walked back on its 3% Digital Services Tax that prompted the United States to suspend trade talks on Friday. The tax, which disproportionately affected American technology firms, was set to take effect on Monday.
71: Israel’s strike last Tuesday allegedly killed 71 people at a notorious detention facility in Tehran, per Iranian State Media. The prison houses thousands of political prisoners, including opposition politicians, journalists, and activists.
4,000: More than a third of Tuvalu’s population – around 4,000 residents – have applied for a landmark ‘climate visa,’ which grants Australian residency to migrants from Pacific Island nations battling rising sea levels. NASA scientists expect that the country’s main island, home to 60% of the population, will be fully submerged by 2050.
$80,000: US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly re-routed $80,000 in political donations to a newly established personal company during her time as South Dakota’s governor in 2023. Noem’s lawyer said she “fully complied with the letter and the spirit of the law.”Hard Numbers: European leader faces no confidence vote, Sheinbaum wants to sue SpaceX, & more
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during the European Council summit at the headquarters of the European Council, in Brussels, Belgium, on June 26, 2026.
401: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen faces a no-confidence vote over “Pfizergate,” a scandal over how she secured vaccines in 2021 by personally texting Pfizer’s CEO. It would take an unlikely 401 votes in the 720-strong European Parliament to oust her, but the vote may push her to make political concessions to both the left and right to shore up support.
25: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is threatening to sue Elon Musk’s SpaceX for debris from ground tests near the Mexican border. Her move comes after the US government in May increased the permitted number of annual SpaceX launches from 5 to 25, despite concerns about adverse effects on the environment.
2: Two Chinese international students studying in South Korea were arrested on Wednesday for using drones to film a US carrier at a naval base. They were accused of violating the Protection of Military Bases and Installations Act, and it’s the first time foreign nationals have been detained on such charges. South Korea’s new left-leaning president has sought to distance Seoul from Washington somewhat, raising the prospect of greater tension between its largest security partner, the United States, and its largest trading partner, China.
6-3: In a 6-3 vote, the US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Planned Parenthood cannot sue the state of South Carolina over its effort to defund the reproductive health clinics. Abortion is legal in South Carolina only during the first six weeks of pregnancy, but the decision is expected to diminish Planned Parenthood’s ability to provide other healthcare to patients, like physical exams and cancer screenings.
HARD NUMBERS: Corruption bombshell in Costa Rica, Tax Protests in Kenya, flaming butts in Greece, and more…
President of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves Robles, smiles and points finger up while listening to interpreter headphones during the opening of the Third United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice.
7: Costa Rica’s attorney general’s office accused 7 government officials – including President Rodrigo Chaves – of illicit campaign financing in 2022. The prosecutors called on the country’s Supreme Court to lift Chaves’ immunity so he could be placed on trial. Chaves’ office has yet to respond to the allegations.
1: Exactly one year after demonstrators stormed the Kenyan parliament to stop a new tax bill, protesters are again taking to the streets to mark that event. Police have responded by cracking down, hurling tear gas canisters at the crowds.
120: ISIS-linkedgroups in Mozambique’s restive, energy-rich Cabo Delgado province have kidnapped at least 120 children in recent days, according to Human Rights Watch. The groups allegedly use the children for forced labour and marriages, and also as soldiers.
1 billion: Thailand’s health ministry moved to prohibit the sale of recreational cannabis on Tuesday, disrupting an industry that has grown to over $1 billion. The country was the first in Asia to decriminalize cannabis in 2022, but a public backlash over harm to children forced the government to reverse that.
10,000: Authorities arrested a Georgian woman accused of sparking a wildfire that has burned through more than 10,000 acres on the Greek island of Chios. She is suspected of unintentionally starting the blaze by dropping a cigarette butt in the brush..
75: Today marks 75 years since the start of the Korean war, which pitted Soviet-and-Chinese backed North Korea against the US-backed South in the first major clash of the Cold War. The three year long conflict, known as “the forgotten war” in the US, killed as many as three million people, but resulted in little change to the borders of the divided Korean peninsula. And technically, it never ended.
Firefighters try to tackle a wildfire burning on Chios island, Greece, June 23, 2025.
400: Over 400 firefighters were deployed to the Greek Island of Chios on Tuesday, as wildfires rage there for a third straight day. While the cause is still unknown, officials declared a state of emergency on Sunday, forcing hundreds of villagers to evacuate.
25: Israeli forces reportedly killed at least 25 Palestinians at an aid distribution site in Gaza on Tuesday, per hospitals and witnesses in the area. These appear to be the latest killings at US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites, which began operations in Gaza in late May.
40: More than 40 people were killed in an attack at a hospital in Sudan’s West Kordofan over the weekend, near the frontline between the Sudanese Army and the rebel paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces. Sudan’s civil war has been ongoing since April 2023.
57: The Colombian military has freed 57 soldiers from captivity, days after they were captured by locals residing in the southwestern Cauca region, an area that produces much cocaine. The country’s defense minister blamed rebel groups linked to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for their kidnapping.
What We’re Watching: Iran meets with Putin, NATO gathers at the Hague, Venezuela targets black markets
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on June 23, 2025.
US bombing of Iran creates Russian conundrum
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Iran’s foreign minister on Monday, offering rhetorical support for Tehran – but it’s unclear what more the Kremlin is willing to do for its last major Middle Eastern ally right now. Putin has cultivated good ties with Iran, but also with Israel. At the same time, with Washington focused on Iran, Russia continued to hammer Kyiv with airstrikes over the weekend. Just days ago, Putin openly declared that the “whole of Ukraine is ours” – does he think the end goal is in sight?
NATO allies meet for an uncomfortable summit
Defense expenditure will be the top agenda item when leaders of 32 countries – all from Europe and North America – gather at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit tomorrow in the Hague, Netherlands. Ahead of the gathering, the group agreed to increase its defense-spending target from 2% to 5% of GDP, but granted an exception to Spain due to the prime minister’s political problems at home. Questions about the strength of the alliance are swirling: US President Donald Trump has sparred with his NATO allies for years now, and there’s no sign that the tensions will subside – his decision to bomb Iran undercut European efforts to foster a truce in the Middle East.
Venezuela cracks down on black markets – could it backfire?
The Venezuelan government has arrested dozens of people, including former top officials, in a crackdown on the country’s sprawling black market for dollars. Authorities blame off-the-books dollar traders for destabilizing the exchange rate, but experts say that the government’s economic mismanagement, coupled with US sanctions, means that black markets are the only way to satisfy popular demand for greenbacks. Stamping out those channels could, they warn, make things worse. Venezuela’s inflation rate has already surged past 200% this year.
HARD NUMBERS: Belarus frees dissident, Farmers kidnap Colombian soldiers, Damascus church attacked, & More
Belarussian dissident Syarhei Tsikhanouski hugs his wife, Belarussian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, after he was released from prison, in this screengrab taken from a social media video released on June 21, 2025.
5: Belarussian dissident Siarhei Tsikhanouski, husband of the de-facto opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was freed on Saturday after spending more than five years in jail. US special envoy Keith Kellogg reportedly helped foster the deal. GZERO recently interviewed Tsikhanouskaya here.
57: Colombian farmers in the southwestern region of Valle del Cauca have kidnapped 57 government soldiers. Authorities say the farmers were pressured by local rebel factions that have rejected the 2016 peace deal with the government. For more on rising political violence in Colombia, see our recent piece here.
25: At least 25 were killed in a suicide bombing at a church Damascus, Syria, amplifying concerns about sectarian violence under the government of former-jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa, who overthrew the Assad regime in December. Syria’s interior minister said the attacker was affiliated with Islamic State – the group itself has not claimed credit.
12: A suspected female suicide bomber killed at least 12 people at a fish market in Borno state in northeast Nigeria on Friday night. Borno is the center point of Boko Haram’s insurgency movement – an insurgency that has been going on for 16 years.
1.8%: War, huh, what is it good for? The Israeli stock market, evidently. The country’s main index reached record highs on Sunday after rising 1.8% following the US attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. Since Israel began wider airstrikes on Iran last week, the index is up a total of nearly 8%.