Jorge H. Martinez, the owner of a small Mexican company near the border with the US, sees how the threats of US President Donald Trump with sting rates over the head, creates geopolitical tensions and throws business in insecurity. Martinez is not even more excited about this. While much of the business world in Mexico was breaking their hands imagining the nightmares that the rates could produce, Martinez has learned an opportunity, writes The New York Times. «During crisis, if you are prepared, you win,» says Martinez, 40 years old. «The truth is that this whole thing was helpful.» Martinez is the CEO of Micro Parts, which has about 50 employees in the Monterrey industrial city. The company produces a small universe of belts, stews, zippers, gaskets and clamps, vital objects for many production lines, but not many think or observe them. Martinez has been fighting for a long time with the hard competition in China, where many of these objects are manufactured cheap. But now that imports of such products are no longer cheap, its company is part of a trend: companies are looking up and down local suppliers, most of them in northern Mexico, to obtain the components they import. The search began in advance for Trump to become president, but he intensified under the fire of his threats, for the benefit of companies like the one run by Martinez. When Trump announced this year's rates, Mexican affairs that send most of their stocks to the US were forced to adapt to a new commercial environment that penalize everything that is not manufactured in the US. Some have adopted an expectation approach. Others have thought of moving their production units to the US. However, in March the Trump administration announced that the rates will not apply to imports under a free trade agreement signed by the US and its neighbors from the north and south. At that time, another option became available for producers. The US-Mexico-Canada agreement was cataloged by Trump at one point «the largest, most correct, balanced and modern commercial agreement ever concluded». The agreement has specific rules, at times complicated, for products and industries. However, in general, to qualify for preferential treatment and avoid Trump's rates, a product should be manufactured in one of the three countries, with at least some of the raw materials there. This is how a frantic pursuit began after local companies that produce components that, not long ago, companies would have imported from other parts of the world, especially from China. In order to prepare, Martinez bought new machines and found new suppliers for certain raw materials. He also did not use Asia as a source for other raw materials. The sales of his company climbed 32% in the first quarter of 2025 in annual terms. The growth has been tanned since then, but sales are still bigger than last year's. Even Asian multinational companies have become its customers. But although Trump argues that his rates will play the greatness of the American manufacturer sector, analysts say that their consequences are not yet clear. For them, a way to give an impulse to the American manufacturer sector would be a strengthening of production in the region as a whole. Martinez bet exactly on this. «The North American block has to compete with the Red Dragon,» he shows a clear reference to China. For now, he adds, this could mean finding more suppliers like him in Mexico.
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