The new Cold War is a business opportunity, and Mexico looks better placed than almost any other country to seize it.
US-China tensions are rewiring global trade, as the US seeks to reduce supply-chain reliance on geopolitical rivals and also source imports from closer to home. Mexico appeals on both counts—which is one reason it’s just overtaken China as the biggest supplier of goods to the giant customer next door.
On top of resurgent exports, Mexico boasts the world’s strongest currency this year and one of the best-performing stock markets. Foreign direct investment is already up more than 40% in 2023, even before Tesla Inc. starts building a proposed $5 billion factory. Not since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s has the country held the kind of allure for investors that it has right now.
A lot of people expect India to be the country that will displace China as the main manufacturing hub, but Mexico, Bangladesh and Vietnam are actually much better positioned to fill that gap. And there is no reason why a single country should be dominant over a whole industry.
India is well positioned for trading services with the west because so many of them speak English.
I’ve already seen “made in” labels change from China to Vietnam and other countries. I recently got some Nike gym shirts that were made in Jordan, of all places.