Mexico Says Ford Has No Plans To Move Production

As Ford Authority recently reported, newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump previously stated – before the election – that he was considering implementing tariffs on vehicles built in Mexico and imported to the states, by anywhere from 100-200 percent. Such a move could obviously impact production and pricing of a number of models, including the Ford Maverick, Ford Bronco Sport, and Ford Mustang Mach-E, all of which are currently built in Mexico. Regardless, it seems as if Ford isn’t currently considering moving production of those models from Mexico to the U.S.

According to Reuters, Mexican officials are working to downplay any potential impacts a Trump presidency might have on trade between that country and the U.S. “Mexico’s negotiation power is relevant,” the country’s economy minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said at a press conference. “Any action that you take to put at risk (the U.S.-Mexico trade relationship) means thousands of companies” will be impacted. “There’s hardly an important U.S. company that doesn’t have money here.” Ebard added that automakers operating in Mexico – including Ford – have no plans to cease production in that country, noting that his team is preparing to meet with Trump soon to discuss these matters.

For years, automakers have been building vehicles in Mexico and exporting them to other markets as a way to save money via both lower labor and parts costs, which means that these proposed tariffs could easily offset those savings – and, according to analysts, prove “highly disruptive” to the entire U.S. automotive industry, given how many models are currently produced there. In fact, around one-third of GM and Stellantis’ full-size truck production occurs in Mexico at the moment. Regardless, Trump has stated that he wants to impose tariffs on those models in an effort to force automakers to move production back to the U.S. and create more jobs.

The U.S. free trade agreement with Mexico is up for review in 2026, and currently allows companies to import vehicles into America without having to pay additional duties, so any tariffs could obviously halt future investments by automakers in Mexico. Additionally, lawmakers are concerned about Chinese automakers building plants in Mexico and using it as a “backdoor” to skirt the aforementioned tariffs on those vehicles – concerns that Ebard downplayed during his press conference. In any event, if these new tariffs do come to light, automakers would face some difficult decisions, whether that be to pass the cost down to customers or spend a tremendous amount of money to shift production back to the U.S., though nothing is set in stone at the moment.