North American Summit Needs Follow-Through to Capture Nearshoring, Experts Say

Current and former government officials from the U.S., Mexico and Canada agreed that the recent Three Amigos summit was successful, but that implementing the ambition of relocating a semiconductor supply chain to North America will need dedicated attention. The officials spoke on a webinar hosted by the Council of the Americas and Wilson Center on Jan. 20.

Mexican Senator Vanessa Rubio said that Mexico wants to be proactive in capturing shifting global supply chains. "What do we need to have in place? Certainty, clarity, predictability – sometimes it’s easier said than done," in Mexico, she granted.

The idea that countries are discouraging unfettered globalization, and that regionalism is on the rise was on the minds of many panelists.

Luz Maria de la Mora, former undersecretary for foreign trade in Mexico's Economy Secretariat, said such fragmentation "makes it even more important to have a strong North America, a vital North America."

De la Mora said the summit in Mexico City showed that the Mexican and U.S. presidents and the Canadian prime minister can have substantive discussions that can help the region.

She said no time was spent talking about USMCA, which, she said, "tells us USMCA is working well."

Louise Blais, a senior special adviser to the Canadian Business Council, attended the summit for the sessions that the business community was invited to. She had a different take on why USMCA wasn't on the agenda -- she said the release of the auto rules of origin decision was intentional, because the governments did not want to focus on irritants. (All three governments already knew the U.S. had lost the case, but it was not published at the time.)

"It will be very, very telling to see whether the Americans will comply with the decision," Blais said. Whichever way it goes, it "will set the tone for the review that will be coming up in less than three years now," she said, referring to the NAFTA 2.0 sunset clause.

Rubio said in order for Mexico to capitalize on the nearshoring phenomenon, there needs to be curated data and analysis on what aspects of the auto industry are concentrated outside North America, what is needed to set up electronics supply chains in North America, and what is needed for the semiconductor industry to become less dependent on East Asian facilities.

Blais said the fact that there's going to be a trilateral semiconductor forum with industry and government representatives early this year is a step toward those goals.