Mexico - September 2026

Mexico has been strengthening commercial relations with Japan, South Korea, and southeast Asia in recent months as part of a drive to attract high-value manufacturing investments and diversify its economic partnerships, while also reducing its reliance on the US and China.

Most recently, Mexico’s Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco Álvarez concluded a two-day official visit to South Korea on 25 August in a bid to deepen economic ties and foster cooperation in strategic sectors – including science, technology, innovation, defence, and security – with Mexico’s fifth-largest trading partner. According to Mexico’s foreign ministry (SRE), bilateral trade reached US$29.7bn in 2025.

“Mexico and South Korea have identified innovation, artificial intelligence, digital governance, and the aerospace sector as priority areas, where the opportunity lies not merely in exchanging knowledge, but in creating it together,” Velasco said during his visit, which helped secure the upcoming trip of South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung to Mexico City (CDMX). During the first trip to Mexico by a South Korean leader in a decade, Lee will sign the Mexico-Korea Action Plan 2026-2030 with Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum.

One important part of the plan is to deepen the participation in Sheinbaum’s flagship Plan México of leading South Korean companies operating in Mexico, including electronics companies Samsung and LG, carmaker Hyundai Motor Group, steel-making firm Posco, banking company Hana Financial Group, and automotive company HL Mando.

Japan

Earlier in August, Mexico moved to strengthen bilateral economic dialogue with Japan, the leading source of Asian FDI into Mexico, with investment concentrated heavily in automotive manufacturing, electronics, and nearshoring expansions. At a meeting in CDMX, Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard and Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi discussed ways of deepening strategic economic relations and bilateral collaboration in trade, investment, and economic development – including opportunities offered by the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and Mexico’s role as a gateway to Latin America for Asian manufacturing and supply chains. 

Major Japanese multinationals, like carmakers Nissan, Honda, Toyota, and Mazda, along with technology company Sony, have extensive operations in Mexico, making important contributions to the economy through job creation and technology transfer. The current focus is on opportunities for cooperation in the energy and artificial intelligence sectors – areas considered strategic for developing more-resilient supply chains and facilitating the energy transition – especially after supply shocks caused by the conflict in the Middle East, with Mexico agreeing to send 1m barrels of crude to Japan in July. The two countries are also exploring opportunities for Japan to help strengthen Mexico’s productive capacity, especially by upgrading port, railway, and logistics infrastructure. 

Asean

The more recent overtures towards Japan and South Korea were preceded by moves in June to strengthen ties between Mexico and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) – whose member states include Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Mexico is seeking opportunities to deepen trade and political, economic, and cultural cooperation through accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, which was established in 1976 and embodies universal principles of peaceful coexistence and friendly cooperation among states in Southeast Asia.

Mexico’s attempts to find new ways of cooperating with East and Southeast Asian countries can be explained by at least three broad trends. Firstly, they are part of a bid to capture more nearshoring and investment opportunities as global firms consider relocating factories closer to North American consumers. As well as bringing expertise in advanced electronics, automotive, and technology manufacturing, Asian investment could also stimulate local job creation. Partnerships with established Asian firms could also spur technical workforce training and the development of industrial clusters.

Secondly, the strategy comes as Mexico navigates shifting global trade relations, with the US erecting new tariff barriers against imports from countries around the world. This has even pushed Mexico to take similar measures, particularly by imposing steep import duties on nations without free trade agreements, including China and India [EB-26-01]. This could give preferential partners in east and southeast Asia a competitive edge, although several are also affefcted by the tariffs, as well as helping firms from those countries meet strict regional content laws. Importantly, the push also comes during negotiations with the US over the future of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), with Mexico potentially attempting to secure Asian manufacturing operations inside the country ahead of future reviews of the regional trade pact.

Finally, Mexico’s pivot towards Asia may be an attempt to reduce market vulnerability by diversifying trade towards Asia to cushion Mexico against shifting US political and tariff measures. At the same time, it could help increase Mexican exports, as local agricultural products gain wider entry into affluent Asian markets.

South Korea

With strengths spanning artificial intelligence, data centres, and automotive software, South Korea exemplifies the level of technological development Mexico seeks to foster through enhanced bilateral cooperation. Knowledge sharing is another important goal, especially through a South Korean institute in Mexico aiming to provide educational programmes in engineering, technological development, and semiconductors.