North America at a crossroads as Mexico kicks off trio of major elections

Looming elections across North America could upend a decades-long integration process as the continent’s three major nations face sharp choices between populism and traditional liberalism.

The interactions among Mexican, U.S. and Canadian leaders stand to shape the political and economic future of a free trade zone with complex and profitable supply lines and consumer markets on one hand — and increasingly fortified borders on the other.

On Sunday, Mexico will choose between former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who shares the centralist, populist vision of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or a return to the institutionalist structure favored by Mexico’s traditional political parties, former bitter rivals banded together behind opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez.