The Employers’ Confederation of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex) warned that the protectionist repercussions imposed by the United States are forcing Mexico to redirect its trade policy and suggest strengthening ties with Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Edmundo Enciso, president of the Nearshoring and Foreign Trade Commission of Coparmex Mexico City, commented that the threatened tariffs on steel, the automotive sector, and agricultural products are already having devastating effects on value chains in North America. This, combined with the tightening of immigration and the mass deportation of Mexican workers, is destabilizing entire communities, cutting off remittances, and collapsing local employment.
“The core of our economy is being affected,” he stated, as the export sector and the flow of remittances, which represented more than 17% of Mexico’s GDP in 2024, are in decline.
According to the customs broker’s analysis of the international context, US trade policy has become increasingly unilateral and punitive.
He explained that this is due to the structural weakening of the US economy and the rise of the BRICS as a global counterweight, as economist Richard Wolf has also pointed out, who, in a more in-depth perspective, anticipates the fall of the US empire.
According to Wolff, the BRICS+ countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and Indonesia) already represent more than 50% of the world’s population and 35% of global GDP, surpassing the G7. These emerging powers, he asserts, are offering investment, infrastructure, and financing conditions that truly compete with traditional Western-dominated organizations.
“Mexico has a historic opportunity to diversify its alliances, and this is not about breaking with the United States, but rather about balancing our relationship and developing an autonomous foreign policy that puts Mexico’s interests at the center,” the customs broker said.
“They are sending us workers for whom there are no jobs, while the jobs that existed in the export industry are being destroyed,” said Edmundo Enciso.
Coparmex proposes a national foreign trade strategy with a geostrategic vision based on five pillars to reposition Mexico in the new global economic order: the diversification of trading partners, strengthening ties with Asia, Africa, and Latin America; an active industrial policy that promotes regional clusters, value chains, and quality employment; and the strategic use of nearshoring, with modern logistics infrastructure and a competitive fiscal policy.
Source: eleconomista
