The trade war that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, started against China, has so far not affected the arrival of companies from that Asian country to Mexico, or doing business, specialists agreed.
For Sergio Ley, Mexico’s ambassador to China from 2001 to 2007, interaction with Chinese organizations has not generated US pressure on Mexico either, as was seen in the past administration, when at the end of 2014 the concession of the Mexico-Querétaro train was revoked. China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) company.
The now president of the Business Section for Asia and Oceania of the Mexican Foreign Trade Council (Comce) recalled that during the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, the US government of Barack Obama put pressure on the country to limit the entry of Chinese companies, but “ in that this regime [esa presión] it is quite minor ”.
Ley added that it is not expected that with the arrival of the government of President-elect Joe Biden, the pressures “will be as crude” as before.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s business with China continues. A few weeks ago, the Ministry of Economy announced the elimination of tariffs on the import of electric trolleybuses, which coincided with the announcement by the Government of Mexico City that these vehicles will be purchased from a company in that country.
In addition, this Friday the Metro Collective Transportation System awarded the contract to modernize Line 1 to the Chinese consortium CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive, following the resignation of CAF.
In mid-November, through an executive order, Trump banned Americans from investing in 31 firms linked to China’s military, including CRRC.
This week, the US ambassador to Mexico, Christopher Landau, called on the government and the national telecommunications industry to join the US initiative Red Limpia and only hire “reliable providers” for 5G networks.
That proposal leaves out Huawei, a Chinese firm that has operated in Mexico for 20 years.
Regarding what was said by Landau, Sergio Ley said that it is part of the American “song” regarding which Chinese companies want to steal information.
“We must look out for the best interest of Mexico, and if that is to get the best technology, at the best price, that is the path that the country should follow.”
Limited exposure
For the coordinator of the Center for China-Mexico Studies (Cechimex) at UNAM, Enrique Dussel Peters, the participation of the Asian country in the national territory is very limited.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) represents less than 1% of all capital raised between 1999 and 2020, he said. Funding is minimal and there are practically no Chinese investments in infrastructure because most of it goes to the service sector.
“The investment in Mexico in infrastructure projects has been very bad,” he explained, as seen in projects that could not be completed, such as Dragon Mart, in Cancun, and the Mexico-Querétaro train, among others. “We are full of failures,” he commented.
He affirmed that China is important as a supplier, because it is Mexico’s second commercial partner. Given this, the best thing will be “that the United States does not get us into its fights and, if it wants, that it fight with China.”
Intense rivalry
The former head for the country of the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), now T-MEC, Kenneth Smith Ramos, affirmed that the United States and China face a war in several areas.
It is a kind of “cold war, around who is going to control the technologies, telecommunications, the production of semiconductors. Everything is at stake ”.
He explained that under the Trump administration and during the NAFTA renegotiation, the United States tried to impose an “anti-China” clause, but Mexico and Canada refused because it violated their sovereignty.
In the end, it was agreed that if a free trade agreement is negotiated with a non-market economy, the details should be shared with the other two partner countries, and if one of them thinks it is contrary to their interests, they can get out of the pact. .
Smith Ramos specified that it was not defined what a market economy is, and he sees very unlikely that Mexico wants to have a treaty with China, because it is considered a competitor.
Biden will face a minefield, he added, as he will have to bring China to the negotiating table, and to succeed in respecting intellectual property.
The general director of the Institute for Industrial Development and Economic Growth, José Luis de la Cruz, explained that Biden has already made it clear that for the United States China represents one of its greatest challenges, since the relationship goes beyond the economic. Given this, Mexico must define its policy with Asia.
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