Trump’s China tariff threats are helping fuel a manufacturing boom — in Mexico
The migration of manufacturing to Mexico could undermine Trump’s promise to voters that ratcheting up tariffs on China would incentivize companies to bring production back to the U.S and give American companies a more even playing field.
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has indicated that one of his top priorities when he takes office next week will be to impose steep tariffs on Chinese imports, a move he claims would protect American jobs and bolster domestic manufacturing.
But if recent trends are any indication, one of the biggest beneficiaries might be workers in Mexico.
After Trump levied tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese goods in his first term, a growing number of companies moved manufacturing operations from China to Mexico. Industry analysts and executives working with Mexican manufacturers said that with Trump promising to escalate the trade war, they are seeing a renewed wave of interest from companies looking to shift production from China to Mexico.
“It’s absolutely déjà vu, and it’s just getting started,” said Raine Mahdi, whose company, Zipfox, connects businesses with manufacturers in Mexico. “The last time, this issue caught the tail end of the Trump administration, and then it pretty much died off with the Biden administration. Now it’s already starting before Trump is even officially in office. It’s not going to just go away. Companies are not going to be able to wait it out.”
There are generally no tariffs on goods made in Mexico that are shipped to the United States under the USMCA trade pact among the United States, Canada and Mexico — similar to the previous North American Free Trade Agreement — though Trump has threatened Mexico with new tariffs if it doesn't do more to stop the flow of immigrants and drugs across its border.
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