How Flood of Chinese Goods Into North America Earned Mexico ‘Backdoor’ Label

“If Mexico won’t fight transshipment by, at the very least, matching Canadian and American tariffs on Chinese imports, they shouldn’t have a seat at the table or enjoy access to the largest economy in the world,” Ford said in a statement on Nov. 12.
He added on Nov. 20, “All the premiers, we know Mexico is bringing in cheap Chinese parts, slapping made-in-Mexico stickers on, shipping it up through the U.S. and Canada, causing American jobs to be lost, and Canadian jobs.”
The “backdoor” described by Ford includes a major source of worry for the auto manufacturing industry in both the United States and Canada: a surge in Chinese car assembly plants in Mexico.
The report argues that the import of large numbers of remarkably cheap Chinese cars—some selling for as low as US$14,000—“threaten the jobs of millions of American manufacturing workers” and bring about “an extinction-level event for the U.S. auto sector.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland said last week that she shares Washington’s concerns about whether Mexico is “aligned” with the other two North American partners when it comes to the issue of China’s unfair trade practices.
“We know that the president-elect talks about China and the transshipments, and so we’ve got to stand up,” he said.
By taking a firm stance against Mexico’s rerouting of Chinese goods, the premiers of Ontario and Alberta are aligning themselves with the new Trump administration’s economic worldview, thereby seeking to ensure that Canada is seen as a friend of the Americans with mutually beneficial economic interests.
The potential goodwill from this alignment of interests will be particularly relevant when the USCMA comes up for review—and potentially for renegotiation—in 2026. At that time, Ontario, which has a major auto manufacturing industry, will benefit immensely if Canada is shielded from tariffs on cars. Alberta’s government, for its part, will be lobbying against tariffs that may hurt its extensive energy industry.
“This tariff-jumping that they’re doing is really going to hurt Ontario, and it’s going to hurt Canada, but it’s primarily going to hurt Ontario because we are the only automaker,” he said in the CBC interview.
Given Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s views on China, it’s not surprising that she was the first premier to echo Ford’s concern that Mexico has become a backdoor for Chinese goods.
“I think we now have to make sure that we understand what an adversary China is, and make sure that we’re not playing into our own demise,” she said.
She went on to warn against becoming too economically reliant on China.
“Chinese cheap production has hollowed out our manufacturing sector, not just in the United States but also in Canada,” she said.
Faced with mounting criticism, Mexico may find itself having to choose between clamping down on the lucrative flow of Chinese goods to its shores, or end up being excluded from the North American economy by its trading partners.