World
Global companies that might be affected by Donald Trump’s promised tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China.
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday pledged tariffs on the United States’ three largest trading partners – Canada, Mexico and China – detailing how he will implement campaign promises that could trigger trade wars.
Here are companies with a manufacturing presence in Mexico.
AUTOMAKERS
Honda Motor sends 80% of its Mexican output to the U.S. market and its chief operating officer Shinji Aoyama warned on Nov. 6 that it would have to think about shifting production if the U.S. were to impose permanent tariffs on vehicles imported from the country.
Nissan Motor has two plants in Mexico where it makes the Sentra, Versa and Kicks models for the U.S. market. It produced nearly 505,000 vehicles in Mexico in the first nine months of 2024. The company does not disclose how many of those were exported to the U.S. market.
Toyota Motor has a smaller footprint in Mexico, making only its Tacoma pick-up truck at two plants there. It sold more than 230,000 of them in the U.S. in 2023, representing about 10% of its total sales in that market. Toyota used to produce the Tacoma in the U.S. but now ships all of them from Mexico, which accounts for most of the production at the plants.
Mazda exported around 120,000 vehicles from Mexico to the United States in 2023. Mazda President Masahiro Moro said on Nov. 7 that the tariff issue is “not a problem that can be solved by individual companies” and it would carefully examine the details before deciding its response.
South Korea’s Kia Corp has a factory in Mexico that makes its own vehicles and a small number of Santa Fe SUVs for its affiliate Hyundai Motor for U.S. exports.
GERMAN AUTOMAKERS
Volkswagen’s factory in Puebla is the largest auto plant in Mexico and one of the largest in the VW Group, according to the carmaker’s website. Nearly 350,000 cars were made there in 2023, including the Jetta, Tiguan and Taos, all for export to the U.S.
Its Audi plant in San Jose Chiapa makes the Q5, employing just over 5,000 people. It produced nearly 176,000 cars in 2023, its website showed. In the first half of 2024, nearly 40,000 were exported to the U.S., according to the Mexican Automotive Manufacturers Association.
BMW’s plant in San Luis Potosi produces the 3 Series, 2 Series Coupe and M2, with nearly all the output going to the U.S. and other markets worldwide, according to the carmaker. From 2027, it will produce the all-electric ‘Neue Klasse’ model line.
TESLA SUPPLIERS
Tesla encouraged its Chinese suppliers to set up plants in Mexico in 2023 to mainly supply the U.S. automaker’s planned Gigafactory in Mexico.
Tesla originally planned to start production in Mexico in early 2025 but has largely shifted to an expansion plan for its Texas plant.
CHINESE AUTOMAKERS AND SUPPLIERS
Some Chinese car component makers such as seat maker Yanfeng Automotive Interiors have been producing in Mexico for years to supply automakers including General Motors and Toyota, which had relocated their capacity to Mexico to lower costs.
Chinese top EV maker BYD has been scouting for locations to build a plant in Mexico but has said repeatedly that the factory will serve the domestic market and not produce cars to be sold in the U.S.
JAC Motors has since 2017 had a joint venture in Mexico with Giant Motors to assemble JAC brand vehicles. SAIC-owned MG in August announced plans to build a plant in the country.
FOXCONN
The world’s biggest electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn is building a giant artificial intelligence server factory in collaboration with Nvidia in Mexico. It plans to start production early in 2025 making a liquid-cooled server containing Nvidia’s new and powerful Blackwell family of AI chips.
LENOVO
Chinese computer maker Lenovo produces servers and other data centre products at a massive site in Monterrey that it expanded in 2021. It said at the time that all of its data centre products for the North American market are manufactured in Monterrey.
LG ELECTRONICS
South Korea’s LG Electronics makes TVs, home appliances and EV parts at its Mexican sites. It said on Nov. 26 that it is reviewing possibilities including changes in trade policies.
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics makes TVs and home appliances in Mexico and exports them to the U.S..
PACKAGED GOODS COMPANIES
Procter & Gamble and Unilever are among the big packaged goods companies exposed to tariffs on imports from Mexico, data shows.
About 10% of P&G’s shipments in the three months to September were from Mexico, according to import data provider ImportYeti. Around 2% of Unilever’s sea imports into the United States come from Mexico, the data shows.
Both companies and other big consumer groups such as Pepsico and Lay’s Chips, have collectively invested hundreds of millions of dollars in their Mexican supply chains.