The 2026 men’s World Cup is the first in tournament history to be co-hosted by three countries, with matches spread across 16 cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The arrangement, awarded to the unified North American bid in 2018, was conceived as a showcase of continental cooperation. But the political and economic landscape has shifted sharply since the bid was approved.
President Donald Trump, who took office in January 2025, imposed tariffs on both Canada and Mexico during his first weeks in office, drawing swift retaliation from Canada. The Canadian government announced counter-tariffs, and several provinces pulled US alcohol from shelves. Canadian travel to the United States dropped significantly, a trend that irritated US businesses.
Trump also made repeated public comments suggesting Canada become the “51st state” of the US, remarks that Canadian officials called inflammatory and disrespectful. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who succeeded Justin Trudeau earlier this year, has pursued a strategy of reducing economic dependence on the US, including efforts to strengthen trade ties with other partners.
Relations between Canada and Mexico also grew strained. Carlo Dade, director of international policy at the University of Calgary, told BBC News that Canadian and US officials had argued before Trump’s second term that Mexico was serving as a back door for Chinese investment. “It was downright disrespectful,” Dade said.
Carney has since worked to repair the relationship with Mexico as part of his diversification strategy. Dade noted that Canada, which is seeking closer trade ties with China, and Mexico, which has increased tariffs on China, are now “moving in different direction” with respect to the Trump administration’s emphasis on China as a primary concern.
The three countries are also in the middle of a scheduled review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the free trade pact that succeeded NAFTA in 2020. Mexico has launched formal trade talks with the US; Canada has not yet begun its own review.
Mexico faces its own set of challenges as a World Cup host. Questions persist about the readiness of Mexico City’s main airport, its public transport system, and the renovated Azteca stadium. In recent months, cartel members appeared on the streets of several cities in a short-lived but widespread display of violence. The main teachers’ union is now holding a nationwide strike over pensions and working conditions, and its leadership has threatened to close thoroughfares leading to matches, saying, “Without a solution (to their demands), there will be no kick off.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has remained outwardly confident. “It’s time to witness the best football in the world and to share with everyone who we are — not only a country of immense cultural heritage, but of an empowered people,” she said last year.
Mexican football journalist Rafael Puente urged fans to be patient. “I really hope the fans show patience and good behaviour in the face of some of these problems which we can’t hide,” Puente told the BBC. “The only thing we can hope for is the excitement, illusion and expectation which the Mexican people have shown in the past, particularly around the participation of the national team.”
The tournament also tests logistics at the US border. Stepped-up immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, combined with heightened security concerns due to the ongoing US military engagement with Iran, could create delays for fans crossing between countries. Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff, a clinical assistant professor of global sport at New York University, told the BBC that “co-hosting these global sporting events is not necessarily a recipe for a lovey-dovey relationship between the co-hosts.” She cited the mixed experience of the 2002 Japan-South Korea men’s tournament as a precedent.
The three leaders appeared together in December for the World Cup draw in Washington DC, where they posed for a selfie with FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Dade said that “anytime you get leaders together, it’s generally a good thing.” The question is whether the month of matches provides enough goodwill to move beyond the trade disputes and mistrust that have marked the run-up to kickoff.