U.S. Indicts Mexican Judge Over Alleged $2 Million Bribe as Mexico's Share of U.S. Trade Reaches 16.9%

The U.S. relationship with Mexico is being tested on two fronts at once: crime and commerce. The Justice Department says a Mexican judge took a bribe to free a cartel suspect. Trade data show Mexico supplying a bigger slice of American commerce than any other country.

A judge, a bribe and a cocaine network

Luiz Benítez Alcántara, 49, was arrested in Colombia on a Sunday. He faces a nine-count U.S. grand jury indictment charging him with being an accessory after the fact, the Justice Department said in a statement.

The department alleges that Benítez oversaw extradition proceedings in Mexico in 2024 for Andrew Clark, a Canadian citizen. Clark is charged in the U.S. with helping run a drug trafficking group allegedly led by former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding. According to the department, Benítez released Clark from custody in 2025 after accepting a $2 million bribe.

Clark was arrested days later and taken to the United States. He faces drug trafficking and murder charges.

U.S. officials say they will request Benítez's extradition from Colombia. Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, said Benítez was traveling there for personal reasons. It was not immediately known whether Benítez has a lawyer. Clark's attorney, Matthew Lombard, did not immediately respond to messages Thursday.

An indictment is an accusation, not a finding of guilt. No court has ruled on the charges against Benítez.

"Crooked public officials, no matter where they are, who assist drug traffickers operating here at home will face justice in the United States," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the statement.

The Wedding case

U.S. authorities describe Clark as second-in-command of a network that moved cocaine from Mexico to Los Angeles. There it was held in stash houses until semi-trucks carried it to Canada. Wedding and Clark are both charged with ordering killings tied to the drug trade.

Wedding became a top FBI fugitive. He was arrested in Mexico earlier this year and flown to California, where he pleaded not guilty to murder and drug charges. Dozens of others have been arrested, and investigators seized drugs, weapons, cash, vehicles, artwork and jewelry worth millions of dollars.

The Justice Department's allegation, if proven, would mean a sitting judge helped a charged trafficker walk out of custody for a payment. U.S. prosecutors did not need Mexico's own courts to reach him.

Mexico's growing weight in U.S. trade

The commercial picture is just as lopsided. Mexico accounted for 16.9% of total U.S. trade in the first nine months of 2026, up from 15.6% across all of 2025. Canada followed at 12.4% and China at 6.5%, according to U.S. foreign trade figures published Wednesday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

China's share keeps shrinking, from 7.4% in 2025 to 6.5%. Taiwan's rose from 4.6% to 5.6%. Mexico, Canada, China, Taiwan and Vietnam together made up 46.1% of U.S. trade from January through September.

Mexico also accounted for 20% of the U.S. trade deficit, just behind Vietnam at 20.8%. Banco Base said in an analysis that the deficit with Mexico has grown faster than the one with Vietnam. The bank said Mexico could finish 2026 as the country with which the U.S. runs its largest deficit.

Tariffs fall unevenly. The average effective tariff rate on Mexican imports was 3.11% in September, down from 3.19% in August. The overall U.S. average was 6.49%. Cambodia's was highest among the 35 leading suppliers at 20.64%, followed by China at 19.42%. Canada's rate rose from 3.16% to 4.18%. Total U.S. tariff revenue in September was $22.943 billion.

Midterms and the USMCA review

Analyst Fernando Mares argues in Mexico Business News that the Nov. 3 midterms will not ease the pressure on Mexico. He cites preliminary results showing Democrats winning at least 228 House seats and control of both chambers of Congress. Mares writes that the president keeps constitutional authority over foreign commerce, tariff execution and USMCA renegotiation. In his view, leverage on rules of origin and Chinese supply chain integration stays in the White House's hands.

David García, an international relations program coordinator at UNAM FES Aragón, sees one practical change. He says Democratic control of governorships in border states gives those states a way to limit local cooperation with federal immigration operations and workplace sweeps.

Mares says cross-border supply chain integration represents 30% of Mexico's gross domestic product. That makes the stakes of the USMCA review large. The fourth round of bilateral negotiations faces a delay of about two months. Negotiators from both countries are still working to set a date to resume formal talks. The stated goal is a tariff agreement before the end of 2026.

For now, the Benítez extradition request and the USMCA restart date are the next concrete markers. Neither has a date attached.