Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday unveiled an economic plan apparently designed to avoid U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's threatened tariffs by cutting imports from China.
He also emphasized that the USMCA trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada is the best way to deal with competition from China.
playing cards said During the campaign, he advocated imposing 25% tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if they did not take certain steps to improve the physical and economic security of their borders with the United States.
In addition to concerns about illegal immigration and drugs flowing across the border, President Trump wants to crack down on “drug abuse.”nearshoringBroadly speaking, this means bringing offshore manufacturing closer to the physical realm of a nation. In practice, this primarily involves moving factories from China to Mexico.
The problem is that nearshoring could help China avoid tariffs and trade barriers by manufacturing products in Mexico's much more trade-friendly environment. Mexico is tied to the economies of the United States and Canada in a large continental trade agreement called USMCA. This agreement: implemented This agreement replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was announced by the first Trump administration in July 2020 and criticized for being disadvantageous to American workers and industry.
Canadian officials also announced concerns Mexico has become a “backdoor” for Chinese products flooding into North America. Research shows that container shipments from China to Mexico have skyrocketed over the past few years, and Chinese investment in Mexico has also skyrocketed, increasing by a staggering 60% in 2023 alone. .
The number of Chinese companies locating in Mexico's industrial parks has doubled since 2021, with much of that growth clearly coming from industries like autos and electronics that have been hit hard by U.S. and Canadian tariffs.
Much of the U.S. media world ridiculed Sheinbaum criticized President Trump's tariff threats and predicted they would only push Mexico further into China's waiting arms. remarks On Monday, he indicated that President Trump's message was received in Mexico City.
Scheinbaum promises to reduce the wave of imports from China, emphasizes his administration's support for USMCA and announces pro-growth policies aimed at making Mexico more attractive to North American investors did. Among her agenda was protecting Mexico's steel and textile industries from dumping of Chinese products.
“Our goal is to expand across the Americas, and this is the vision we want to have to become the region with the greatest potential and development in the world,” she said.
Manufacturing groups in both the US and Mexico I clapped Sheinbaum criticized the new tariffs targeting lower-rate Chinese companies such as Shein and Tem. Both U.S. and Mexican officials are discussing ways to stop China from abusing “non-minimis” provisions in laws such as the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which exempt packages from certain forms of customs inspection. I'm looking for.
“Despite legal efforts by Mexico and the United States to block imports of undervalued goods through forced labor, tariffs and regulatory restrictions, Asian markets continue to grow through predatory trade practices. “We have seen how USMCA is gaining an unfair advantage, displacing companies and workers in the industry, and weakening critical collaborative production chains,” the textile industry group said. said he said in a letter to Sheinbaum on Monday.
Kim Glass, president and CEO of the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), said Mexico's textile industry has suffered “astronomical” job losses due to unfair competition from China, and the U.S. It said it had closed 25 textile factories during that time.
“The pain that Mexican industry is feeling is being felt across the hemisphere, including here in the United States,” he said, citing China's abuse of tiny shipping exemptions and the Chinese government's heavy subsidies on some products. cited as a major problem.
“We are facing a quarterly decline for eight consecutive quarters. For eight quarters, we have been losing jobs and losing market share,” said Rafael Zaga of Mexico's National Textile Industry Chamber (CANAINTEX). Sabah Chairman added.
“At the end of the day, what we're looking for is to protect jobs, protect local industry, and look for ways to counter the uneven floor that exists due to unfair imports.” said Fernando Padilla, president of the Mexican Association of Industrial Supplier Companies (APIMEX), said:
of new york times (New York Times) Early January quotation Some Mexican manufacturers believe President Trump is bluffing with tariff threats and are seeking more products and investment from China as China abuses nearshoring to avoid punitive measures. I was expecting it. Two weeks later, the number of prominent voices in Mexico that think President Trump is bluffing appears to have significantly diminished.
