The US Treasury on Thursday said it signed an agreement with Mexico’s finance ministry to cooperate on strengthening screening of foreign investments to enhance national security, including regularly sharing information on best practices.
The effort is aimed at helping Mexico develop a screening body similar to the Treasury-run Committee on Foreign Investment the US (CFIUS), which reviews purchases of American companies by foreign-owned entities and other inbound investments.
“Like our own investment screening regime, CFIUS, increased engagement with Mexico will help maintain an open investment climate while monitoring and addressing security risks, making both our countries safer,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in announcing the memorandum of intent with Mexican Finance Minister Rogelio Ramirez de la O.
Ramirez also asked for help in fighting the flow of weapons from the United States into Mexico.
“On this side of the border we’re doing everything we can to detect and prevent (fentanyl from being sent to the United States),” he said. “So we have also asked for the same level of cooperation from the US with these (arms) shipments.”
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Mexico is attracting a major influx of manufacturing investments to supply the US market, raising concerns that China or other countries could use it as a back door to get around restrictions on US export controls for sensitive technologies such as semiconductors.
The near-shoring boom brought Mexico US$32.2 billion in foreign direct investment in the first three quarters of 2023, close to the full-year 2022 total of $36 billion.
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If Chinese firms want to produce in Mexico for the US electric vehicle battery market, they would have to comply with the Treasury’s new “foreign entity of concern” rules that limit Chinese control of a producing subsidiary to 25 per cent.
“If Chinese involvement triggered those rules, which are meant to avoid undue dependence on China, then that’s a no,” Yellen said.
Private Chinese firms are also investing in the US production of other clean energy goods to take advantage of domestic tax credits, and “they can play a role” in creating a diverse supply base in the sector, she said.
The Treasury and other members of CFIUS, which include the US departments of State, Defence, Homeland Security, and Commerce, regularly work with governments to improve their investment screening. More than 20 countries, including Mexico, have implemented or enhanced their regimes over the past decade.
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Yellen said Treasury and Mexican Finance Ministry officials on Thursday also discussed a cross-border payment systems, including possibly integrating them more deeply, which could enhance trade and investment benefits.
“We see that this level of financial cooperation gives us the opportunity to take on subjects that are of interest to Mexico,” Ramirez said, “in particular digital payments and reducing costs to send remittances.”