| The relationship between the US and Mexico is being strained in the final days of the Lopez Obrador government, deepening tensions that hang over their free-trade deal ahead of a review scheduled for 2026. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is under pressure from US lawmakers to back off plans to seize a port and limestone quarry owned by Alabama-based Vulcan Materials. AMLO, as the Mexican president is known, leaves office next week. AMLO last month promised to turn the Vulcan facility on Mexico's Caribbean coast into a natural protected area, which the construction firm says is illegal and equivalent to expropriation. A bill introduced Monday by a bipartisan group of US senators would prevent ships that use the port from unloading or getting repairs in the US or its territories — if Mexico follows through with the seizure. Without naming specific countries or companies, the bill's intention is to render the port useless for shipping or cruises, according to aides to the author, Republican Senator Bill Hagerty. This comes on the back of an overhaul pushed through by AMLO's party that threatens to erode the judicial independence that companies say is needed to protect their investments and make sure that Mexico adheres to international trade regulations. It also adds to simmering disputes between the two nations, which trade everything from energy to corn to motor vehicles, and could complicate an upcoming review of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement required under the four-year-old trade deal. US lawmakers are urging US Trade Representative Katherine Tai to pursue negotiations with AMLO and President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who takes power on Oct. 1. In a recent letter, lawmakers warned that changes in Mexico could make the 2026 review of the USMCA "more difficult" and potentially compromise US investors' access to a "stable, predictable, and unbiased regulatory framework." Here's selected timeline on the dispute: —Eric Martin in Washington | 
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