In a joint venture with China's JAC Motors, Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu's Giant Motors will begin manufacturing cars in Mexico to sell in the Latin American market, The Financial Times reported Monday. With the alliance, Giant Motors, controlled by Slim's financial services conglomerate, Inbursa, and China's JAC Motors, plan to focus on exports to Latin American countries in a move observers see as a way of circumventing the Trump Administration's anti-free trade policies. The 4.4 billion peso (around US $230 million) alliance between Slim, Mexico's richest person, and China's JAC Motors to manufacture vehicles in Mexico's central state of Hidalgo, was first announced last month. Under Trump, American auto giants are under pressure to scale down production in Mexico or bring back manufacturing jobs to the U.S. from Mexico. Last month Giant Motors announced a joint venture with Moldex, a subsidiary of Grupo Bimbo, a Mexican-based multinational that is the world’s largest bread maker, to manufacture a made-in-Mexico electric vehicle.

Source: Forbes March 28, 2017 20:26 UTC