Frédéric Sánchez, president of the International French Business Movement (MEDEF), assures that Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to Mexico generates confidence and creates the conditions for the continued increase of investment by French companies in the Mexican economy.
“It is difficult for me to answer, but there will be an investment that grows 10 percent, it seems like something very simple to accomplish,” he tells Forbes Mexico.
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The increase in French investment in Mexico will occur due to the dynamism of the United States economy and Donald Trump’s tariffs, which forces companies to find another supply chain, says the businessman.
“There are many French companies that have invested massively in Mexico, making them the second employer after the United States,” he declares.
Most French companies are very strong in Mexico, which is strengthened by the state visit of Emmanuel Macron, says the president of Grupo Fives, a company of French origin with operations in Coahuila and Guanajuato.
The last time a French president had made a state visit to Mexico was when Nicolas Sarkozy arrived. And he was received by Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, who was the president.
A state visit was attempted in 2018, but it did not materialize and it was not until Friday, November 7, 2025, the day that Emmanuel Macron, president of France, arrived in Mexico to meet, meet and talk business with Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.
More than 1,122 French companies invested in Mexico during the government of Felipe Calderón, another 1,013 French companies injected capital into the Mexican economy during the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto. And only 764 firms of French origin allocate money to open a factory or plant, when Andrés López Obrador was president of Mexico. Now with Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, the entire business landscape is changing and capital is being sought from all over the world.
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The Mexican and French economies face challenges due to the pressures of Donald Trump’s tariffs, as well as other problems in the global economy, considers Frédéric Sánchez.
“We are trusting in Mexico because of its location with the first world market, such as the United States, as well as because the T-MEC will be renewed,” says the business representative.
Mexico, the United States and Canada are experiencing economic integration, such that “it is impossible to destroy the T-MEC,” asserts the French industrialist.
Europe will begin to reduce China’s exports, so we will have to find other more competitive countries and Mexico appears there, says the president of the Industry Alliance of the Future.
In the current struggle to find a competitive and alternative industrial market are Turkey, Mexico, Brazil and some East Asian countries, and no African nation or India appears, he explains.
In India it is difficult to subcontract personnel to produce industrially, which complicates the operations of French companies, he details.
“The industrialists who have come to Mexico continue to trust, but Mexico needs to ensure the security risk. We handle ourselves well at Fives, but there are French companies that are in difficulties,” he says.
If there is a problem that Mexico must solve, it is public insecurity, since the rest of the Mexican economy is positive, underlines Frédéric Sánchez.
—Does insecurity cause French companies to leave Mexico or disinvest?—the president of the International French Business Movement was questioned.
—No, but for those who are operating in Mexico, the vast majority knows how to handle (the problem of insecurity). Yes, it is an obstacle for companies that want to come to Mexico.
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“We have to give them confidence (to companies interested in investing in Mexico), those of us who are in Mexico have to give them confidence,” he points out.
The Mexican government must improve the problem of public insecurity in different regions of the country, concludes the president of CCI International.
