During the AMLO administration, Spain’s FDI has experienced ups and downs, but 2024 is shaping up to be the lowest performer of the six-year term.
In the first three months of the year, Spain was still clinging to the top 10 of countries with the most foreign investment in Mexico; during that period it was ranked 9th.
However, by the second quarter of the year, the European country had left this top ranking, while South Korea and Belgium have strengthened their presence in Mexico.
In terms of accumulated foreign investment from 2006 to 2023, Spain maintains an important weight, maintaining its second place, but Canada is increasingly getting closer, while Germany and Japan are also emerging as Mexico’s trading partners.
AMLO and his confrontation with Iberdrola
The relationship between Mexico and Spain has had its stumbling blocks this six-year term, as López Obrador has constantly criticized Iberdrola and the president has not missed an opportunity to remind people that, according to him, this energy company was favored during Felipe Calderón’s government.
The president stressed that his predecessor, after his term in office, became an employee of Iberdrola’s subsidiary in the United States, Avangrid.
It was not until the Mexican government announced the purchase of 12 combined cycle plants and a wind farm from the Iberian company in 2023 that the president’s criticisms diminished; the operation was closed at the beginning of this year.
On the map of investments in the energy sector, when AMLO’s government took office, Iberdrola was the company that invested the most in Mexico, which is why Spain occupied first place in that area.
But this year there is also a reconfiguration, because Spain is no longer the largest investor in the Mexican energy sector, now the United States is leading the way with more than 20 billion dollars, followed by Canada with 14 billion.
Iberdrola ceased to be the main investor and was joined by the Canadian company TC Energy, with which the CFE has forged strategic alliances, and the American company IEnova also began to appear more.
Spain stagnated in FDI in the energy sector with more than 9,000 million dollars.
