Corona beer maker Modelo says to invest $3.6 bn in Mexico

Corona beer maker Modelo says to invest $3.6 bn in Mexico

Corona beer imported from Mexico is seen at a store in the US state of Texas
Corona beer imported from Mexico is seen at a store in the US state of Texas. Photo: RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP/File
Source: AFP

Grupo Modelo, the producer of Corona and other Mexican beer brands, said Thursday that it would invest more than $3.6 billion in Mexico despite trade tensions with the United States.

"We stand with Mexico like good friends, in the good times and the bad," Raul Escalante, vice president of the brewer owned by Belgian-Brazilian giant AB InBev, said at President Claudia Sheinbaum's morning news conference.

He said the investment would be used to modernize the company's plants and stores.

Seeking to ease concerns about the Mexican economy in the face of US President Donald Trump's tariffs, Sheinbaum has invited several company executives to her news conferences to present their investment plans.

Last month, US retail giant Walmart said that it would invest more than $6 billion in Mexico this year, generating several thousand jobs.

E-commerce behemoth Amazon, its regional rival Mercado Libre, streaming giant Netflix and Spain's biggest bank Santander are among the other foreign firms that have announced major investments.

Read also

American Airlines pulls 2025 forecast on economic uncertainty

The government said that it had received nearly 2,000 investment pledges totaling almost $300 billion -- equivalent to around 16 percent of the country's annual economic output.

Trump this month left Mexico off the list of nations facing his "reciprocal tariffs," but its carmakers as well as steel and aluminum exporters still face duties.

The International Monetary Fund this week predicted that Mexico's economy, the second largest in Latin America, would shrink by 0.3 percent this year, pulled down by Trump's trade war.

Sheinbaum said the outlook was too pessimistic because her government's efforts to attract investment would offset the hit from US tariffs.

She said that Mexicans' strong work ethic would give the country an advantage over its competitors.

The image "of a Mexican sitting with his hat under a nopal cactus, as if we were lazy, is completely false," she said.

PAY ATTENTION: Сheck out news that is picked exactly for YOU ➡️ find the “Recommended for you” block on the home page and enjoy!

Source: AFP

Authors:
AFP avatar

AFP AFP text, photo, graphic, audio or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer or otherwise except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service, AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, videos, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP material. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP material.