EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Uncertainty over U.S. tariffs and the increasing cost of wages in Juarez has led to the loss of 887 manufacturing jobs in July, a Mexican industry spokesman said.
The U.S.-run maquiladoras have been losing thousands of jobs since March 2023 due to mandated increases to Mexican base wages (up 375 percent since 2017) and a growing trend toward automation. That has accelerated with the threats of tariffs, said Marcelo Vasquez, regional director of the Association of Mexican Importers and Exporters.
Factories are rushing production to meet orders from U.S. buyers in case President Trump revisits tariffs based on Mexico’s migrant and drug interdiction in six months and before a mandated review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement next year, Vasquez said.
Further job losses could happen when those orders are filled, he said.