Weekly Report - 14 April 2016 (WR-16-14)

MEXICO | Ford investment. On 5 April US multinational car manufacturer, Ford Motor Company, announced it would invest US$1.6bn in the construction of a new small-car manufacturing plant in Mexico’s central San Luis Potosí state. A Ford statement said the new plant, construction on which is due to start this summer, would create “2,800 direct additional jobs by 2020”. The new plant is due to begin operating in 2018, The statement added that the investment was part of the company’s One Ford global product and manufacturing plan adopted in 2007, which aims to improve the profitability of its small cars. The investment also marks the 91^st anniversary of Ford’s arrival in Mexico, where it has been producing vehicles since 1925. It follows that of some of the other leading global car manufacturers like Japan’s Toyota and the US’s General Motors, who have recently increased their production capacity in Mexico, seeking to exploit the advantages that the world’s fourth largest car manufacturer now offers in terms of competitive production costs and infrastructure. Ford’s decision was not welcomed by all in the US. Dennis Williams, the president of the US United Automobile Workers (UAW), issued a statement in which he complained that building the new plant in Mexico was “disappointing and very troubling”, as it meant that the jobs would not be created in the US. “Companies continue to run to low-wage countries and import back into the United States”, Williams said. Such sentiments were shared by the US Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, who, in his own statement, described the decision as “an absolute disgrace”.

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