Asked by fjh

What does the US and Japan own in Mexico? mostly

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Short answer
- US owners: mostly manufacturing plants and export-oriented operations (automotive and auto parts, electronics and electrical equipment, aerospace, appliances), plus big shares of retail, finance, energy services, logistics and tech operations.
- Japanese owners: mostly automotive manufacturers and suppliers (assembly plants and parts makers), plus electronics, machinery, and industrial suppliers.

More detail
- Biggest sector for both countries: manufacturing for export under Mexico’s maquiladora/IMMEX system. US firms dominate maquiladoras overall; Japanese firms concentrate on carmaking and auto-supply chains.
- Examples of US presence: Ford, General Motors, many Tier‑1 suppliers, large retailers and consumer goods firms (operations of Walmart, Coca‑Cola/PepsiCo bottlers and distributors, Procter & Gamble), banks and finance (Citigroup, Bank of America services), energy and oil‑service companies (Chevron, Exxon contractors), and large tech/cloud/logistics operations (Microsoft, Amazon, Google, UPS, FedEx).
- Examples of Japanese presence: Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, and dozens of parts suppliers such as Denso, Aisin, Yazaki and other component makers; also some electronics and industrial equipment firms (Sony, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and others through suppliers/joint ventures).
- Real estate/tourism: citizens and companies from both countries also own hotels, resorts and vacation properties (often through legal trusts in restricted zones).

Scale (approximate)
- The US is by far the largest foreign investor in Mexico (roughly 40–50% of cumulative foreign direct investment stock historically). Japan is a smaller but important investor, especially in the auto sector (typically a few percent of total FDI, and usually ranked among the top 10 investor countries).

If you want, I can:
- Give a current list of major US and Japanese companies with operations in Mexico, or
- Pull the latest FDI-by-country and FDI-by-sector numbers and sources. Which would you prefer?