US jobs push may open doors to China in Mexico

US President Donald Trump’s push to force US industry to bring jobs home is opening investment avenues for Chinese companies in Mexico, an executive with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country’s largest lender, said on Friday.

Fears of a hit to foreign investment ran high when Ford Motor Co canceled a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico’s central state of San Luis Potosi in January.

Trump, who had railed against US manufacturers investing in Mexico, hailed the decision as a major victory, but Ford put it down to declining demand for small cars.

Yaogang Chen, head of ICBC’s Mexico unit, said US industry’s loss could be China’s gain.

“If some US investment projects don’t (happen), there has to be somebody to invest ... If Chinese companies think it is profitable, they will invest,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of a banking conference in the resort of Acapulco.

In February, China’s Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Co Ltd (JAC Motor) and Mexico’s Giant Motors, along with distributor Chori Co Ltd, said they would invest over $210 million in an existing plant to build SUVs in the central state of Hidalgo.

Prior to Trump’s campaign against US manufacturers shipping jobs overseas, Chinese companies were making tentative inroads into Mexico. (RTRS)