MONTERREY, Mexico 鈥� Jorge H. Mart铆nez, owner of a small Mexican company near the U.S. border, has seen how President Donald Trump鈥檚 threats of steep tariffs have upended markets, bent geopolitics and thrown businesses into uncertainty.
He鈥檚 thrilled about it.
As much of Mexico鈥檚 business world worried over the nightmare outcomes that tariffs could cause, Mart铆nez saw an opportunity.
鈥淚n a crisis, if you鈥檙e prepared, you win,鈥� Mart铆nez, 40, said as he sat in his office above the hum and clank of machines spitting out tiny plastic parts by the dozen. 鈥淭ruth is, this whole thing benefited us.鈥�
He is the CEO of Micro Partes, which has about 50 employees in the industrial city of Monterrey. They create a tiny universe of straps, plugs, fasteners, grommets, zip ties and clamps 鈥� objects that are critical to many production lines but that most people don鈥檛 give a second thought to, if they notice them at all. The products include a hollow ring to protect cables as they pass through walls, a lid to cover the heads of washing-machine screws and buttons to hold advertisements on shopping carts.
Mart铆nez has long faced steep competition from China, where many of these parts are made cheaply.
But now that it鈥檚 no longer cheap to import them, his company is part of a trend: Businesses are searching high and low for local suppliers, mostly in northern Mexico, to source the components they used to import. The search began before Trump took office, but it has intensified under his threats, benefiting businesses like Martinez鈥檚.
When Trump announced tariffs this year, Mexican businesses that send most of their stock to the United States had to adapt to a new trade environment that punished anything not U.S.-made. Some companies took a wait-and-see approach. Others considered moving their manufacturing plants to the United States.
But in March, the Trump administration said tariffs would not apply to imports traded under a free-trade deal signed by the United States and its neighbors to the north and south. At that point, another option became available to manufacturers.
鈥淢ake sure your whole process, your whole supply chain is in North America,鈥� said Alberto Villarreal, managing director of Nepanoa, a Chicago consulting firm that provides services for companies that want to set up in Mexico, a trend known as nearshoring.
The trilateral trade pact, called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, was championed by Trump in his first term. He once called it the 鈥渓argest, fairest, most balanced and modern trade agreement ever achieved.鈥�
The deal has specific, sometimes complicated, rules for products and industries. But, in general, to qualify for preferential treatment 鈥� and to dodge Trump鈥檚 tariffs 鈥� a product must be manufactured in the region, with at least some its materials from there.
So a frantic search began to find local companies making parts that, not long ago, businesses would have imported from other parts of the world, particularly China.
鈥淭here was an urgency to locate suppliers in the region and to stop importing from Asia,鈥� Mart铆nez said.
To prepare, he acquired new machines and found new suppliers for the resin his company used to manufacture the plastic parts. He also stopped using Asia as a source of steel cubes 鈥� a key material his workers transform into molds, usually customized for the customer, that shape resin into a screw, a spark plug, a clip.
His company鈥檚 sales jumped by 32% in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2024. The increase has since slowed, but sales remain higher than last year鈥檚.
Even Asian multinational companies became new customers, like an LG factory in Reynosa, a Samsung plant in Tijuana, and a Chinese appliance and electronics manufacturer called Hisense, with a facility just north of Monterrey.
鈥淩ight now, we have $600 million in purchase orders that we鈥檙e helping to fill with local suppliers,鈥� said Emmanuel Loo, the economy minister of Nuevo Le贸n state, whose capital is Monterrey. His office has been helping multinational corporations find products from Mexican manufacturers, including small businesses such as Micro Partes.
鈥淭his is great news for us,鈥� Loo said. 鈥淟ocal companies now have more opportunities to increase their sales and be more competitive against Asian suppliers.鈥�
Although Trump has argued his tariffs will restore the manufacturing prowess of the United States, analysts say their consequences are unclear. With the United States, Canada and Mexico deeply intertwined through trade and investment, analysts say, one way to bolster U.S. manufacturing would be to strengthen production in the region as a whole.
Mart铆nez is betting on that.
鈥淭he North American bloc has to compete against the Red Dragon,鈥� he said in a clear reference to China, known in his industry as the world鈥檚 factory. For now, he added, that might mean finding more suppliers like him in Mexico.
鈥淎nd here we are,鈥� he said, 鈥渞eady, raising our hand.鈥�
This article originally appeared in . 漏 2025 The New York Times
