The United States Conference of Mayors gathered in Long Beach, California, for its 94th annual conference, a weekend-long meeting where local leaders are tackling some of the country's most pressing issues. High on the agenda is trade, and in particular the impact of tariffs on American families. The conference is scheduled to run through Sunday.
A central theme of the gathering is cooperation across North America's borders. The Conference of Mayors has been active in working with local leaders to bridge relationships with neighbors in Mexico and Canada. That effort, speakers said, has taken on added urgency at a moment when trade ties across the continent are under strain.
Out of that work, the conference created what it calls the North American Trade Summit. It was described as a first-of-its-kind subnational diplomacy effort, an attempt by cities and local governments to help reinstill trade during what speakers called difficult times. The idea is to build connections that operate alongside national governments rather than in place of them.
Underlying much of the discussion, speakers acknowledged, is the question of tariffs. Tariffs affect people in many different ways, one noted, not least through the jobs that sit behind those policies. For the mayors, the conversation kept returning to families, to the work that supports them and to economic opportunity for the next generation.
Among the speakers at the conference was Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who addressed the assembled mayors at a luncheon in Long Beach. His appearance underscored how the trade debate has drawn in not only city leaders but state officials, all of them weighing how shifting tariff policy filters down to the communities they represent.
The forum also drew direct participation from Mexico. Marlon Martinez-Perez, the Director General for Territorial Coordination for the Mexican government, joined the panel, calling it an honor to represent his country in a dialogue on the future of economic cooperation and shared prosperity across North America. His presence signaled that the cross-border effort runs in both directions.
Martinez-Perez also passed along greetings from Mexico's Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, who he said is currently leading his country's efforts and negotiations in the review of the USMCA trade agreement. That review formed the backdrop to a forum focused on the future of economic cooperation and on keeping commerce flowing across a North America under strain.