Mexico to Trump: Those Carrier jobs are not the story
MEXICO CITY — For the Mexican government, few goals seem more important than winning new foreign investment. The competition among Mexican states to bring the next automobile plant or aerospace factory is intense and produces big-time incentives for foreign companies that make the move.
But the announcement that Carrier, the Indiana-based company that makes air conditioners and heaters, would be keeping some 1,000 jobs in its Indianapolis plant instead of moving them to Monterrey, Mexico, was greeted by Mexican officials with little more than a shrug.
“I see this as something that should occupy us, not worry us,” said Hector Castillo Olivares, the mayor of Santa Catarina, the Monterrey suburb where the new Carrier plant is being built.
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For one thing, the Carrier decision is not a disaster for the company’s Mexico operations. As Turner explained, the new plant will still open in coming months and will create jobs, although fewer than planned. The company currently employs about 3,000 people in the Monterrey area, he said, and this is going to increase to about 4,100, compared to about 5,000 anticipated before Trump arrived on the scene.
Monterrey and other cities in northern Mexico’s manufacturing belt are a success story for the country. They have recovered from some brutal drug-war years and are now home to a robust network of plants making cars, electronics, steel and other products.
But the United States isn’t really key to that success. In the state of Nuevo Leon, where Monterrey is the capital, 92 percent of the total investment is domestic. Of the 8 percent that comes from abroad, the United States accounts for 40 percent, a contribution that has been declining over the years as companies from Europe and Asia bring more jobs to the state, Turner said.
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