New York Times: “The last time Mr. Trump was president, he unleashed a trade war against China that proved beneficial to Mexican industry. Companies that relied on Chinese factories to make goods for the American market shifted production to plants in Mexico to avoid Mr. Trump’s tariffs.”

“That trend, known as “nearshoring,” gained momentum as President Biden extended tariffs on Chinese imports. Soaring shipping prices during the pandemic heightened the pitfalls of relying on factories across oceans. For companies seeking to close the distance between plants in Asia and customers in the United States, Mexico beckoned as an attractive place to manufacture their wares.”

White House National Security communications adviser John Kirby said Russia was treating North Korean troops as “expendable” by sending them on impractical ground operations in its war against Ukraine, The Hill reports.

Said Kirby: “It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses.”

Anna Nemtsova: “How did radical nationalists so fully infiltrate Russia’s police and politics?”

Washington Post: “For decades, cocaine consumers were primarily Americans, and interdiction was a U.S. government priority. But despite the tens of billions of dollars spent in the U.S. war on drugs in Latin America, the industry has not only grown, it has globalized, with new routes, new markets and new criminal enterprises.”

“Nearly every one of Latin America’s mainland nations has become a major producer or mover of the drug, with Ecuador now one of the most important cocaine transit points in the world. Demand is soaring in Europe, which rivals the United States as the world’s top cocaine destination.”