Santiago Pérez and Raffaele Huang of The Wall Street Journal report that Mexican officials fear provoking Trump if BYD gets clearance to build autos south of the US Border. They write:
Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD is finalizing plans for a factory in Mexico, a push that will test Donald Trump’s trade policies and the Mexican government’s appetite for conflict with the president-elect.
BYD officials say the company is aiming to reach a deal with Mexico state officials to break ground on a factory near one of the automotive hubs in central or northern Mexico.
The plans put Mexico in a dilemma, made worse by Trump’s threat Monday to impose a 25% tariff on Mexican goods. […]
But Mexican officials fear a BYD plant would send the wrong message to Trump and the trade hawks around him by suggesting that Mexico wants to be a backdoor for Chinese companies to sell to Americans. The president-elect is also taking aim at Mexico over immigration and smuggling of fentanyl, the issues he cited in the tariff threat. […]
And BYD’s path to sell inexpensive imported EVs to Mexicans is growing more difficult after the government recently reintroduced tariffs ranging from 15% to 20% on EVs made in countries with which it doesn’t have a free-trade deal. One such country: China.
Read more here.
