The US on Monday invited Mexico to join a multibillion-dollar push to boost semiconductor manufacturing to compete with China, during a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for high-level economic talks.
Officials set aside trade tensions over Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s energy policies, and focused instead on the potential benefits from cooperation in microchips and other technology.
The Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act, which US President Joe Biden signed into law last month, includes about US$52 billion to promote production of microchips.
Photo: AFP
“Now in China and Taiwan the testing, packaging and assembly industry for semiconductors is a US$60 billion industry. In North America it’s US$3 billion,” said US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, who accompanied Blinken.
“So we’re really very excited about the opportunities for job creation in Mexico and in the United States,” she added.
“The opportunity for Mexico is not just in the manufacturing facilities, but in testing, packaging and assembly,” Raimondo told reporters.
Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard welcomed the US offer to cooperate in semiconductors as “very generous.”
The two sides struck a conciliatory tone when asked about Lopez Obrador’s energy reform efforts, which face opposition from the US and Canada.
Washington in July filed a formal complaint against Mexico under a North American free trade agreement, saying its energy policies discriminated against US firms.
“Dispute settlement under international agreements is a normal part of trade relationships even among the closest of partners,” Blinken said.
“We’re moving full speed ahead in the further integration of our economies and in building the most competitive region in the world. And we’re doing that as you heard through the work on supply chains, on strengthening the work we’re doing together in building a clean energy economy, the work on semiconductors, etc,” he added.
Earlier, Lopez Obrador welcomed the tone of a recent letter from Biden, saying Mexico appreciated its “respectful attitude” compared with the trade complaint, which he described as “not the most diplomatic.”
Lopez Obrador’s push to roll back the effects of liberalization that he says benefited private companies has alarmed foreign investors and environmentalists, who see the moves as favoring fossil fuels over renewable energy.
Washington has requested consultations about the energy dispute under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the first step in a process that could lead to retaliation over actions it says harm US firms and impedes development of clean energy.
Blinken met with Lopez Obrador ahead of the economic talks and discussed issues including cooperation to deal with irregular migration and the synthetic opioid fentanyl, the US Department of State said.
“They also spoke about joint efforts to tackle the climate crisis through investments in clean energy and emerging technologies like electric vehicles, solar technologies, and semiconductors,” a statement said.
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
A German company is putting used electric vehicle batteries to new use by stacking them into fridge-size units that homes and businesses can use to store their excess solar and wind energy. This week, the company Voltfang — which means “catching volts” — opened its first industrial site in Aachen, Germany, near the Belgian and Dutch borders. With about 100 staff, Voltfang says it is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe in the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries. Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it would help Europe’s biggest economy ween itself off fossil fuels and increasingly rely on climate-friendly renewables. While
SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) is weighing whether to add a life insurance business to its portfolio, but would tread cautiously after completing three acquisitions in quick succession, president Stanley Chu (朱士廷) said yesterday. “We are carefully considering whether life insurance should play a role in SinoPac’s business map,” Chu told reporters ahead of an earnings conference. “Our priority is to ensure the success of the deals we have already made, even though we are tracking some possible targets.” Local media have reported that Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽), which is seeking buyers amid financial strains, has invited three financial
RSS