The reform to the Customs Law, which came into effect in 2026, has become one of the main challenges for logistics in Mexico, since it has not provided advantages for foreign trade, but rather obstacles to its operation, considered the Mexican Association of Intermodal Transport (AMTI) .
“The reform of the Customs Law, far from creating advantages, has created more obstacles to operations, as it places greater responsibilities on customs brokers and more penalties on transporters and customs brokers, which is beginning to cause some friction in foreign trade. The nature of customs is to facilitate foreign trade, and this reform is generating a series of complaints,” explained Luis Hernández, president of AMTI.
During the webinar “Supply Chain Readiness in North America” , Hernández pointed out that this scenario is currently occurring, despite having a greater investment in logistics in the country.
According to the Ministry of Economy (SE) , the transport, postal and storage sector attracted 913 million dollars (USD) of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the first quarter of 2026, a growth of 123.3% compared to the same period in 2025, when it was 409 million USD.
Luis Hernández indicated that there are currently bottlenecks in customs operations, such as duplicate inspections , staff availability, binational coordination, and crossing times.
“In order to resolve the capacity issue and be more in line with the growth we are logistically promoting and what the United States, Canada, and Mexico are seeking to supply that market, the country still has to resolve many problems related to customs to be at the same level,” he commented.
Therefore, he asserted that the challenge is to cross borders, move goods, and expedite the flow of logistics. “We have to resolve the customs issue as a logistics industry and work hand in hand with associations. Connectivity is not the problem.”
Reconfiguration in the automotive industry
For his part, Daniel Hernández, president of the National Network of Automotive Industry Clusters of Mexico (Redcam) , stressed that the automotive sector has registered changes, including the speed at which it moves, driven by the role of China and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as by the adjustments in the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (USMCA) .
“The automotive industry is experiencing its most profound transformation in a century, driven by technology and now by the reconfiguration of value chains and a major new player: China. The global map has changed; today, the center of gravity of the industry, which was primarily in Detroit or Tokyo, is now in China,” he said.
He recalled that last year 96.4 million vehicles were manufactured , of which 36% were produced in that country, while 10 years ago it manufactured 24 million units and sold 700,000 to the world; in 2025 it manufactured 34 million and placed more than seven million cars worldwide.
Daniel Hernandez described China’s development in the automotive industry as “impressive,” even stating that its current production is more than double that of North America.
“All the mobility and growth of the automotive industry is driven by China. Last year, we had negative growth of just under 1% in our assembly industry, while they are growing by over three million units produced each year. Their production capacity is greater than any other country, and they are also absorbing a large number of electric vehicles. I think that’s where some of the frustration in the automotive industry comes from, because the progress of electrification hasn’t been as we expected,” he noted.
He stated that this change is related to the development of their supply chains , mainly in the critical supply for electric vehicles, batteries and basic raw materials.
Furthermore, he indicated that China is already one of the world’s largest vehicle exporters, with Brazil, Russia, and Mexico being its main markets. In Mexico alone, there are 30 Chinese brands, and 11 of them have a distribution and maintenance network.
In that regard, he asserted that the supply chain must make strategic investments , while suppliers need to appeal to a closer proximity with their customers’ engineering cycles, use of AI, process automation, among other actions.
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