Mexico’s Ambassador to China, Jesus Seade, told El Financiero on Sept. 13 that China’s One Belt One Road project (better known these days as the Belt and Road Initiative) “has yet to demonstrate that it is something which is necessary, and at this time it is not perceived as the step to take.” While he spoke of Mexico’s interest in increasing trade with China, and attracting Chinese investment into such money-makers as the tourist and hotel “industry,” Seade was delivering the message demanded of the Lopez Obrador government by Washington: to officially take joining the BRI off the agenda.
The announcement comes as part of the geopolitical package which AMLO has been mouthing, of turning Mexico into the replacement manufacturing center for U.S. corporations currently operating in China—"nearshoring” supply chains, as this game is labeled.
Here Citigroup has emerged as a key player. The day before Seade’s message was published, Manuel Romo, the head of Citibanamex, revealed to El Economista that the Mexican branch of Citibank is “coordinating” meetings between Mexican officials and directors of 25 U.S. companies which Citibanamex has identified as targets for a first wave of companies to pull out of China and head to Mexico. Those are companies which already operate in Mexico; the next phase of this operation, he said, will be to “attract” companies that are new to Mexico out of China and into Mexico. This will consolidate Mexico as an “exporting power,” he claimed.
