Mexican businessman grateful for tariffs

A small company in northern Mexico had faced steep competition from China in making straps, plugs, fasteners, grommets, zip ties and clamps. Now, US tariffs have driven a spike in his business, writes Emiliano Rodríguez Mega from Monterrey, Mexico

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orge H. Martínez, the owner of a small Mexican company near the US border, has seen how President Donald Trump’s threats of steep tariffs have upended markets, bent geopolitics and thrown businesses into uncertainty.

He's thrilled about it.

As much of Mexico's business world worried over the nightmare outcomes that tariffs could cause, Mr Martinez saw an opportunity.

“In a crisis, if you're prepared, you win,” Mr Martínez, 40, said as he sat in his office above the hum and clank of machines spitting out tiny plastic parts by the dozen. “Truth is, this whole thing benefited us.”

He is the CEO of Micro Partes, which has about 50 employees in the industrial city of Monterrey. They create a tiny universe of straps, plugs, fasteners, grommets, zip ties and clamps — objects that are critical to many production lines but that most people don’t give a second thought to, if they notice them at all. The products include a hollow ring to protect cables as they pass through walls, a lid to cover the heads of washing-machine screws, and buttons to hold advertisements on shopping carts.

Mr Martinez has long faced steep competition from China, where many of these parts are made cheaply.