▲ Migrants advance through southeast Mexico in search of reaching the United States before Donald Trump assumes the presidency for the second time.Darkroom Photo
Alejandro Alegría
La Jornada Newspaper
Wednesday, November 27, 2024, p. 5
In Mexico there are almost 36 thousand economic units of US capital, the main ones being Walmart, General Motors, Ford and Pepsico, among others, according to official data.
According to information from the Ministry of Economy (SE), between 2012 and the second quarter of this year, the presence of 93 legal entities originating in the United States, 11,594 companies with Mexicans and 24,028 trusts have been registered.
The sectors where firms originating from the neighboring country to the north are located are manufacturing, with 3,162 units; professional services, 1,668, and wholesale trade, 1,548. This is followed by transportation and temporary accommodation.
Most of these companies are located in Mexico City, Nuevo León, state of Mexico, Baja California, Jalisco and Chihuahua.
The retailer Walmart is considered the American firm with the greatest presence in the country, employing more than 233,000 people, followed by General Motors, which employs 23,433. Others are the automotive company Ford, with 12,172; Citibanamex, 40 thousand 883; the food and beverage producer Pepsico, 103,868, and the retailer Home Depot, 19,077. Thus, together they provide more than 413,000 jobs.
Data from the SE indicate that foreign direct investment (FDI) from US companies in Mexico was 173,744 million dollars between 2012 and the second quarter of 2024.
Half of that amount, that is, 87,105 million dollars corresponds to reinvestment of profits; 60,966 billion, to new investments, and 25,673 million, to accounts between companies.
In manufacturing, the main sector where US firms are located is automotive or transportation equipment. According to the SE, between 2012 and the second quarter of this year they have invested 23,196 million dollars.
It is followed by the chemical industry, with 12,631 million dollars; beverages and tobacco, 9,301 million; machinery, 9 billion; computer equipment, 7,508 million, and electrical appliances, 7,174 million.
In services, the subsector with the greatest presence of American companies is credit intermediation, where in the last 12 years they have directed resources for 15,818 million dollars. This is followed by trade in self-service stores, with 9,942 million dollars; temporary accommodation, 8,923 million, and radio and television, 5,256 million.
Similar measurements
In 2018, during the renegotiation of the then North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which began during the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, the SE, whose head was Ildefonso Guajardo, responded with tariffs to the United States, after Donald Trump’s government imposed them on Mexican steel and aluminum.
At that time, Mexico taxed 71 US products, including steel, aluminum, apples, grapes, blueberries, cheese, pork and other goods, at rates that ranged between 7 and 25 percent.
The products with higher tariffs were chosen to impact the sectors where Trump enjoyed the greatest support, which ultimately translated into pressure for the US president.
The SE justified in June 2018 that Washington had failed to comply with the provisions agreed upon in NAFTA, months later converted into T-MEC, after the intervention of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, as well as Marcelo Ebrard and Jesús Seade (https://shorturl.at/8bOLG).
