Mexico City club is charging US citizens nearly $300 to enter in political move
Under Donald Trump’s presidency, it’s fair to say U.S.-Mexican relationship is at an all time low.
Be it the threats of building walls, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, economic tariffs, or aggressive immigration policies, there's currently no love lost between the two nations.
Approximately 72.4 million international visitors traveled to the U.S. in 2024, with a slight decline during 2025 as tensions between the two countries rose.
Many Americans visit Mexico for the promise of a good time, to enjoy Mexico’s vibrant nightlife, with plenty of amazing nightclubs to enjoy.
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And Mexicans seem to be taking matters into their own hands as tourists may have found out whilst vacationing there this week.
The Japan nightclub in the Roma Norte neighborhood has made the headlines this week with an Instagram post, suggesting it will be charing American tourists 21 times more than locals to enter the club.
The Instagram post from the nightclub was liked 26,000 times, with over 200 comments, which mostly supported their new policy.
It said: “It’s not that ‘we charge gringos more’ it’s that we offer discounts to people that need it.
“The cover charge is $5,000 [pesos]. Citizens of the USA don’t get a discount.”
People from other countries of the world get a 93 per cent discount, Mexicans and Latin Americans get 95 per cent off, and students and teachers get 97 per cent off, which means they pay just 150 pesos for access to the club.
U.S.-Mexican relations
Speaking to the Guardian, club owner, Federico Crespo, said the decision had been made because of the current state of Mexico-US relations under Donald Trump.
He said: “This is a response to a year of insults directed at us, as a country, by the United States
“It’s very much a response to the many attacks against Mexico from Trump.”
Mexican 'anti-gentrification' protests
In recent times there has been a huge backlash in Mexico against American tourists, with anti-gentrification protests taking place across Mexico City on 4 July last year. And that date was no coincidence.
Protests were centered around huge rent hikes, unregulated holiday lettings, and the huge influx of European and American tourists to the city's fashionable neighborhoods like La Juárez, Roma and Condesa.
The protests eventually turned violent and windows of local businesses were destroyed - leaving a wake of destruction across the Mexican Capital.
Crespo added that this was one of the reasons for the extortionate prices he would now be charging U.S. citizens to enter his club.
He said: “It’s a way to give that money to the people most affected by this issue: rising rents, the soaring cost of living and the need to commute longer distances to get to work.
"By giving the workers the money collected from cover charges, we help them out a little bit.”
Topics: Mexico, Donald Trump
Thomas Bamford