Short of an investment roadmap, Mexico goes on red tape cutting spree

But Plan México still needs a plan.

Over a year ago, a freshly sworn-in president Claudia Sheinbaum announced Plan México. It was an ambitious, if sprawling, industrial policy unlike anything the country had seen since before the rise of the much maligned governments of the 90’s and 2000’s.

The left-wing opposition back then—the people that would one day become today’s ruling Morena government—accused these nefarious neoliberals of gutting the State and putting all the onus of investment and economic growth on a private sector empowered by deregulation. Plan México was supposed to mark the return of State initiative in the economy.

Many months have passed, and concern had started to mount that the ambitious Plan wouldn’t go beyond the drawing board. Until this past Monday, when president Sheinbaum and her cabinet—the heirs of that progressive critique—presented specific policy points to be put in action immediately to drive investment in the country.

If deployed in the way they were announced, these actions will constitute one of the most significant bureaucratic upgrades in years. They would also make Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Elon Musk, and Javier Milei very proud.

Plan México 2.0: A breakdown