On the new international economic board, tariffs have ceased to be a purely collecting instrument to become strategic weapons of commercial policy and economic security. The United States uses them today as a lever to reconfigure supply chains, imposing a base tariff and sectoral surcharges that press companies to produce or supply in North America.
For Mexico, this context has promoted the narrative of the nearshoringa historical opportunity to attract investments and consolidate as the strategic partner of the first world power. However, reality is so simple. He nearshoring It is not an insured destination, but a complex process that demands to solve structural challenges, and its impact is manifested with particular intensity in SMEs and border states that concentrate much of the new investment.
Small and medium enterprises are in the first line of this transformation. It is they who aspire to integrate into the supply chains of large assemblies, but at the same time face the greatest obstacles: the increase in supplies imported by tariffs, the need for strict certifications, limited access to specialized financing and real -time delivery demands. While large corporations can absorb the impact of tariff policy or reconfigure their supply, SMEs must operate with much narrower margins and, in many cases, without sufficient institutional accompaniment.
The border states, meanwhile, function as a laboratory and nearshoring thermometer. Nuevo León, Chihuahua, Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Baja California have received significant investments in industrial parks and new plants, which generates employment and energizes the local economy. However, they have also seen the demand for electricity, traffic in customs crosses, pressure on roads and the need for housing and services for workers grow accelerated. In these territories the opportunity becomes a daily challenge, and the tension between the promise of growth and the public management capacity is increasingly evident.
The federal government has tried to shield the nearshoring with fiscal incentives, partial modernization of customs systems and sector attraction programs. However, international experiences show that much more is required. South Korea managed to climb from the maquila to advanced manufacturing with an industrial policy focused on dual human capital formation and financing to local suppliers. Vietnam and Poland built unique window models and economic zones with integrated services that facilitated the insertion of small businesses into global chains. Mexico needs to translate these lessons into policies that strengthen its SMEs and convert foreign investment into sustainable regional development.
The future of nearshoring In Mexico it is not written. If the country manages to guarantee sufficient and clean energy, expedite procedures and generate technical human capital, could consolidate a stage of industrialization in which SMEs are integrated in a real way and not only as peripheral supplies. But if bottlenecks and American tariffs persist, they make critical supplies more expensive, the result can be a model of industrial enclaves disconnected from the local fabric, with limited benefits for communities. In a scenario of selective dyslobalization, where proximity and reliability weigh more than low cost, Mexico has a unique window. The question is whether you will know how to make it to convert the nearshoring in an inclusive development strategy for its SMEs and in an engine of structural transformation in its border states.
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