SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Job losses, companies shutting down and a pause in investment are plaguing Baja California’s economy, according to Roberto Lyle Fritch, president of the Business Coordinator Council in Tijuana.
Lyle Fritch says since 2024, when judicial reform was announced, Baja and Mexico in general started seeing a decrease in investment money, and President Trump’s proposed tariffs on Mexican products have made it worse.
“The situation has been exasperated by the mere mention of tariffs on products from Mexico into the United States,” he said.
This morning, Trump announced a 90-day pause on these tariffs. Lyle Fritch sees it as a positive, although he believes it will continue to generate uncertainty among investors.
“We’ve had 3,000 businesses close, most were small, almost all in the service and commercial areas,” he said. “On Friday, we will meet with the governor to strategize a business plan to overcome unemployment and business closures.”
Earlier this month, the El Sol Newspaper in Tijuana reported, 27,000 maquiladora jobs had been lost since the start of the year in the northern Baja region.
Lyle Fritch believes the state should do more to encourage investment including lowering the tax burden on companies and start-up operations.
“We also need to touch on the security theme, this causes concern, our state occupies the first places when it comes to the crime rate.”
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