Foreign direct investment in Mexico in the third quarter of the year reached a new record despite uncertainty over Donald Trump’s trade policies. From January to September, the country attracted nearly $41 billion in foreign disbursements, representing a 15% increase from the previous year and the largest amount since official records exist. When breaking down the data, about $6.5 billion corresponds to new investments. “This means confidence in President Sheinbaum’s government, it means a positive expectation in favor of Mexico and this consolidates a trend because we also recorded growth in the previous quarter,” Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard reported on Wednesday in the usual morning conference of the Executive in the National Palace.
The government has not yet published the full report on foreign investment. However, the head of Economy briefly recalled that the main investor was the United States with 30% of the disbursements, Spain in second place, followed by the Netherlands, Japan and Canada. The official also reported that the projects carried out concern data centers, energy, infrastructure works and the financial sector. Ebrard insisted that Mexico has achieved sustained investment growth since 2018, despite global uncertainty due to US tariff policy.
The record was achieved despite the Mexican economy contracting by 0.3% in the third quarter of the year. The decline in GDP over that period was due to declines in the manufacturing, construction, mining and energy sectors. The Economy official acknowledged that there are two investment speeds in the country. “In the international arena it is clear to me that the perception is very positive, especially thanks to the revision of the USMCA. Investors bet and invest in our country because they believe that Mexico will have significant economic development. The challenge is to put our national investments on the same path,” he declared.
Latin America’s second-largest economy has felt pressure from Donald Trump’s tariffs first-hand, and this has begun to be reflected in various indicators. The slowdown in consumption and the growth in informal employment were the first signs of dark clouds on the horizon. The Ministry of Finance forecasts economic growth for 2025 of between 0.5% and 1.5% of GDP, which represents a cut from previous forecasts, although most multilateral organizations and analysts point to a GDP increase of less than 1% for this year.
The Government announced on Wednesday the signing of a collaboration with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center to launch a Mexican center within its facilities. Starting in January, Mexico will launch its own supercomputer. The Spanish center will provide the infrastructure, but data processing will be the responsibility of the Mexican administration. Jorge Luis Pérez, national coordinator of Digital Infrastructures, explained that 177 Mexican researchers will begin working in the Barcelona analysis unit. With this technology, the Executive intends to create climate models for disaster prevention, processing huge volumes of customs and tax data and massive linguistic models for virtual assistance.
