At the Global South’s Playground, Mexico Is the New Cool Kid
With all the talk of tariffs, sanctions, trade wars, and new world orders, you might be tempted to find a cryostasis pod and sleep through the next hundred years. It can feel like everything we thought we understood about how the world works is shifting. A new kind of Cold War seems to be brewing between the United States, Russia, China, and many others. The unipolar world that gave rise to the Pax Americana is gradually giving way to something more multipolar—new alliances are emerging, and our political systems and technologies are being pulled into different spheres.
Much of what we took for granted during the golden age of globalization—especially after the fall of the Soviet Union—is being questioned as global blocs seek to solidify their spheres of influence. That makes trade more expensive, technology less interoperable, and big changes much more likely.
Is the Global South Waking Up?
The only real constant in nature—and in complex systems like global society—is change. And sometimes, those changes open up real opportunities for countries that historically didn’t have the same bargaining power, either on their own or as a group. I’m not talking about the BRICS here. I mean the Global South as a whole.
What is the Global South, exactly? Is it just everything below the equator? Not quite.
It’s a term used to describe developing nations—countries like Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Niger, China, and many others. But keep in mind: while the label might cover a lot of ground, each country has its own unique characteristics, goals, and constraints. This diversity gives rise to new alliances and strategic opportunities, especially as the global balance of power continues to shift, reset, and evolve—sometimes rapidly.
Just a few weeks ago, it was assumed the United States held a clear advantage over China in AI. That changed in late January, when DeepSeek—China’s large-scale AI model—made its global debut. Questions are still swirling about what it actually cost to train, whether its team had access to more advanced chips than they’re letting on, and where their training data came from. But whatever the outcome, one thing is clear: the AI playing field has temporarily leveled. That alone is an opportunity.
Sometimes, the tech race is seen as a head-to-head showdown between the US and China. But zoom out a bit, and there’s a broader game on the table—one where the Global South, and particularly Mexico and Latin America, can observe, learn, and benefit. As the rulebook gets rewritten, Latin American countries have a chance to build negotiating power by showing up as a coordinated economic region—one that can assert itself not just with the US and China, but with other countries and regions as well. That could translate into real gains for local businesses, entrepreneurs, workers, and communities.
The Schoolyard is Rewriting Its Rules
But is it really that easy? Not at all. Geopolitics is the art of navigating uncertainty with other nations, moving alliances, and major global powers trying to push every country into their corner. Ideally, theirs. It’s basically a big schoolyard where the cliques, cool kids, and rival groups keep shifting around—everyone trying to land in the best possible spot.
So how can Mexico and Latin America make the most of all this movement? Fortunately, there’s a lot of opportunity—especially for Mexico. Like it or not, Mexico’s position in the “global schoolyard” is pretty ideal: right between South America and the rest of North America, with both China and the US wanting to sit next to it during recess.
Global Positioning – Mexico needs to define what kind of global actor it wants to be in this multipolar world—and how it will balance its unique role as a bridge between the US and Latin America, and also as a link between China, Latin America, and the US. That’s pretty much the definition of being the “cool kid,” isn’t it?
Technological Sovereignty – It’s time for Mexico to define a real strategy for technological sovereignty, especially in critical areas like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and other emerging tech.
Yesterday Doesn’t Dictate Tomorrow – I’ve been in plenty of meetings where people point to Mexico’s structural challenges—education, crime, infrastructure, jobs—as reasons why long-term progress is unlikely. But countries like South Korea, China, Vietnam, and Singapore have dramatically reshaped their economies and their futures over just a few decades. Mexico can do the same, learning from their examples and adapting them to the region’s unique context.
Mexico has better and better cards to play on both the regional and global stage. Entrepreneurs, government leaders, investors, students, and anyone thinking about where to build their future should take note: Mexico is the cool kid that everyone wants to hang out with. In all my years working in over two dozen countries, I’ve never heard a bad word about Mexico or its people. Maybe it’s time for Mexico—and everyone living in it—to remember that the world wants a seat at their table.
Originally published in Spanish for Fast Company Mexico:
https://fastcompany.mx/2025/03/12/sur-global-mexico-chico-cool/
