U.S. relations with Mexico and Latin America face severe strains from immigration, trade, and security challenges, particularly along the U.S.-Mexico border. These tensions have become increasingly concerning following the July 2026 USMCA trade review. Dr. Roberto Salinas León will offer strategic perspectives on the future of political, security, and economic relations between the United States and Mexico and the prospects for lasting, mutually beneficial cooperation.

Roberto Salinas Léon is the President of the Mexico Business Forum, the inaugural Director of the Center for Latin America at the Atlas Network, and the President of the Alamos Alliance. He is an expert economist and policy analyst specializing in trade, monetary policy, and economic liberalization in Latin America. Dr. Salinas León is an Adjunct Fellow at the Cato Institute and a Senior Debate Fellow for the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation. A frequent media commentator, his work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal and TV Azteca. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Purdue University.

Is it possible to reject big-government solutions while remaining fiercely dedicated to racial justice? Drawing from his co-authored book, Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America (Emancipation Books, 2022), Dr. Witcher reclaims the classical liberal tradition as a vital engine for Black independence. If we look beyond hyper-partisan rhetoric to explore how historical and modern government manipulation has stalled minority advancement, we discover why true economic freedom remains the definitive path to achieving the promise of America.

Marcus Witcher is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Economic History at West Virginia University and Manager of Undergraduate Programs for the Knee Regulatory Research Center, specializing in the history of regulation, political economy, and modern American conservatism. Author of Getting Right with Reagan (2019) and co-author of Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America (Emancipation Books, 2022), his work has appeared in The Washington Post and Reason Magazine.

"Until recently, we knew liberty without order was decadent and order without liberty was tyrannical. But many powerful and influential figures have decided this wisdom is obsolete because it obstructs their demands for ‘systemic equity’ or their desire to ‘own the libs.'" In The Spirit of '76: Libertarianism and American Renewal, author Alexander W. Salter advocates for a return to founding-era principles of "ordered liberty," emphasizing natural rights and limited government. Published in 2023, the book outlines a defense of traditional American ideals against the expansion of state power.

Alexander W. Salter is Comparative Economics Research Fellow at the Free Market Institute and Georgie G. Snyder Professor of Economics in the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business Administration. Dr. Salter's research and teaching interests include comparative political economy, institutional analysis, and the economics of governance. He is interested in monetary economics and macroeconomics, and especially the question of which monetary and macroeconomic institutions best promote economic stability. He is the author and coauthor of four books and more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals including Journal of Macroeconomics, American Political Science Review, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Contemporary Economic Policy, Journal of Institutional Economics, and Public Choice. He also serves as an associate editor of The Journal of Private Enterprise. 

Alex's popular writing has appeared in several other publications including The Wall Street Journal, Washington Examiner, National Review, RealClearPolitics, and City Journal. Alex teaches an undergraduate course in Applied Business Economics and a gradate course in Austrian Economics. He has also taught a graduate course in Public Choice.