In 2022, Panduit took advantage of the situation of Nearshoring in Mexico, by installing a factory in Apodaca, Nuevo León to assemble fiber optics with the aim of facilitating exports to its main market: US, whose nation has a high demand for said input for ROBUSTATE THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONNECTIVITY AND DATA CENTERS.
One of the main differences that the Apodaca plant has, with respect to the first one that Panduit located in Monterrey, is that the orders are customized, that is, the optical fiber or the copper cable required by the companies that buy will have the characteristics will have the characteristics Specific that they need.
But the tariff warning puts at risk the more than 250 jobs that the company directly generates in Apodaca. Expansion requested comments to the company on the subject but was not available.
Furukawa Electric Mexico is another of the companies that would be affected with a commercial attack. Its fiber optic plant, located in Mexicali, Baja California, exports 80% of its components to the United States market, in addition its commitment to expand the production and storage capacity of this input in the country could also be reduced.
Experts consulted by expansion agree that despite the fact that Mexico stopped Trump’s tariff policy for a while, uncertainty has been settled inside the companies. This could give rise to signatures are more cautious in decision -making, such as reducing the production of their components.
“This whole situation generates uncertainty for the growth of companies and for manufacturers that were moving to Mexico. But this uncertainty feels more in jobs where workers can resent a salary cut for reduced working days. This is bad news for all efforts to achieve Nearshoring, ”said Jorge Moreno Loza, a lawyer specialized in telecommunications.
Among the main exports of Mexico to the United States are fiber optic cables and electric wires (essential for telecommunications and energy infrastructure), with an estimated value of 16,000 million dollars at the end of 2023, according to data from the Secretariat OF ECONOMY (SE). In that year, the United States was the nation that most acquired this type of input from Mexico by concentrating 96.5% of purchases, so taxing this sector would be a hard blow to the industry.
Solomon Padilla, expert in telecommunications and vice president of the Independent Telecommunications Association (ATIM), said that although Trump imposed tariffs for companies would be complex to relocate their operations in other nations because it would imply rethinking all its productive, investment and commercial strategy Companies have the same financial muscle to do so.
“The conversion of a company is not simple. It is easier to say it than to do it. What is most likely is the decrease in production and that will imply that many people are left without employment. But we must wait for what happens in the next few days, ”said Padilla.
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