Name: Mexico loses thousands of jobs as tariff uncertainty hits factories
Uploaded: 2026-01-01T04:14:26.580Z
Duration: 2 min 27 s
Description: Tariff uncertainty under Trump has cost Mexico over 60,000 factory jobs since 2023, hitting border cities hardest and stalling investment.

Tariff uncertainty under Trump has cost Mexico over 60,000 factory jobs since 2023, hitting border cities hardest and stalling investment.

Mexico City

Donald Trump has signed an order to impose tariffs imports into the U.S. from countries including China, Mexico and Canada.

Global Tariffs

Factories in Mexican border cities like Ciudad Juarez have shed more than 60,000 jobs since 2023, as uncertainty over potential U.S. tariffs and shifting economic policies have led companies to consolidate operations and reduce hiring. Many workers, such as Miguel Tovaro, have been left without stable employment and are forced to seek any available work, including informal and construction jobs.

Business leaders and experts highlight that over 80% of Mexico's exports go to the United States, making the economy highly vulnerable to changes in U.S. trade policy. Despite a temporary reprieve on tariffs announced by President Claudia Sheinbaum and Donald Trump, local businesses say this does not resolve the underlying instability, and there are increasing calls to diversify the region's economy beyond manufacturing.

Mexico loses thousands of jobs as tariff uncertainty hits factories

Miguel Tovaro was 16 years old when he first started working in factories in his home city of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas. Over time, he did just about every job, from machine operator to quality control supervisor to security guard. That was until three weeks ago, when he was laid off after the company he was working for consolidated its operations. Having lunch at the local soup kitchen, Miguel is not optimistic about his prospects. People are taking any job that comes up, not necessarily what they want, anything. Factory jobs, informal work, construction, anything. Perhaps nowhere is that sentiment more evident than here. This employment fair used to be bustling with factories trying to lure employees into their ranks. Today, it stands mostly empty. Far from hiring, this Mexican border city has lost more than 60,000 factory jobs since 2023. This industry was already in decline, but the straw that broke the camel's back was this ongoing talk about tariffs. The MAGA discourse has only made the situation worse. Investors and companies have started to think twice or even three times, not knowing what will happen. We don't know whether tariffs will be imposed or not, or whether there will be consumer demand or not. Salayandia's company, which manufactures custom metal parts for the automotive, aerospace and energy industries, hasn't been spared from the uncertainty. He once had 80 employees assembling parts here. Today, 20 remain. More than 80 percent of Mexico's exports go to the United States, making the Mexican economy, and especially the border economy where most factories are, heavily reliant on the U.S. market. When an economic model depends on just one source of revenue, in this case factories, and that model fails, then everything fails. We need to diversify our economies here on the border. We need more services, more commerce, more construction, not just manufacturing. When that happens, then we can talk about having a different type of city. For now, President Claudia Sheinbaum and Donald Trump have announced yet another temporary reprieve on tariffs, but for businesses that depend on the export of their products to the U.S., another pause doesn't solve the problem. It simply prolongs the pain of not knowing what comes next. Julia Galeano, Al Jazeera.

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Mexico loses thousands of jobs as tariff uncertainty hits factories

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