Guadalajara, Jal. Although there is still no projection of the amount of investment that American companies will make in Jalisco This 2025, the Guadalajara chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) anticipates that the United States will continue to be the main investor in the state and that the trade conflict between Donald Trump and China will be an opportunity for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Jalisco.
“Jalisco will continue to be very attractive for North American investment; the substitution of imports of components that are currently being brought from China and that will have to be brought from North American sources, also represents a very important opportunity for Jalisco companies, especially for SMEs,” the president of AMCHAM GuadalajaraErnesto Sánchez Proal.
He indicated that the ecosystem that Jalisco offers, as well as the coordinated work between companies, government and academia, represent important competitive advantages for attracting investments and new projects.
“Specifically, the state of Jalisco has a very developed advanced manufacturing industry, it has a very solid generation of talent, a very close collaboration between three parts of the helix that is academia, industry and government, and that continues in this administration state; that makes it a very attractive place to invest, in addition to having a very balanced economy,” he stressed.
Therefore, the business leader highlighted, more than the tariff scheme of the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, the main inhibitors of foreign investment both in Jalisco and throughout the country, continue to be energy, security and development. infrastructure such as railways.
Sánchez Proal highlighted that both the project of the governor of Jalisco, Pablo Lemus, and the National Plan presented by President Claudia Sheinbaum, will bring improvements in the factors that until now inhibit investment in Mexico.
Homologation of tariffs
“I also believe that the federal government with its Mexico Plan, in which we participated as an American Chamber to prepare it, is clearly visualizing these issues, and is visualizing that we have to standardize the issue of tariffs with North America. If not, I believe that then Yes, we would get into a problem, but the message is already so clear that one of the points of the Mexico Plan is precisely that homologation of tariffs with North America,” stressed the president of AMCHAM.
Inflation and unemployment
According to Ernesto Sánchez, the implementation of a general 25% tariff on Mexican products would cause a loss of profitability for companies or lead them to bankruptcy, in which case it would mean, in addition to inflation, unemployment, also for the United States.
“In industries from automotive, electronics, even agri-food, the chains are very united, it is very difficult to impact them with a 25% tariff for example, that would represent a very strong impact and would even break some of the leagues. The effect It would be, first, if the company can somehow absorb the costs, perhaps the impact would be on the companies’ profitability, but, a tariff of 25% on Mexican inputs and 60% on Mexican inputs; Chinese inputs, surely it has to result in an increase in prices and if the price increase cannot be managed because the market no longer supports it, then the company is going to go bankrupt.
And he added: “So, it would result in either inflation or unemployment and both have very negative political consequences; and I am talking about inflation and unemployment in the United States…We do not have a crystal ball, what I am commenting on is what a logic implies. normal economic and political because it would have political implications as well. So, we think that the issue is more aimed at pressure to act in some sectors such as immigration and trafficking of prohibited substances rather than a real commercial issue.”
Until the third quarter of 2024, Jalisco attracted FDI for 1,161 million dollars, with the United States being the country with the largest amount invested, adding 481.4 million dollars. They were followed by Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom with 187, 110.8 and 109 million dollars, respectively.
