President Donald Trump has never been shy about identifying the source of America’s manufacturing decline. For decades, policymakers pursued trade policies that rewarded companies for chasing the lowest possible labor costs, hollowing out American industry while enriching geopolitical competitors like China. Whether one agreed with his rhetoric or not, President Trump fundamentally changed the national conversation by insisting that trade should serve American workers, not simply multinational corporations.
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That conversation is now entering a new phase.
As the Trump administration continues reviewing and strengthening the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), an unexpected voice has emerged from south of the border arguing that the next step in an America First trade agenda is not to weaken Mexico, but to strengthen it. Mexican labor leader Alejandro Martínez Araiza, National General Secretary of Sindicato Nacional Alimenticio y del Comercio (SNAC), is making a case that deserves serious consideration because it aligns with the strategic objectives the Trump administration has pursued from the beginning.
His argument begins with a simple premise: North America will never outcompete China if Mexico remains trapped in a low-wage economy.
For decades, multinational manufacturers exploited Mexico’s inexpensive labor as another source of arbitrage. American factories closed, production shifted south, and corporations captured larger profits while workers on both sides of the border paid the price. American manufacturing communities lost jobs. Mexican workers often remained trapped in stagnant wages despite producing goods destined for the world’s largest consumer market.
That arrangement may have benefited global corporations, but it did little to strengthen North America. Martínez Araiza puts it plainly: “There is no fair trade on poverty wages.”
His statement should not be viewed as a criticism of America’s trade agenda. It is an argument for completing it.
President Trump’s original objective was never simply to rewrite trade agreements. It was to rebuild American industrial strength, reduce dependence on adversarial nations, and restore manufacturing that serves national interests instead of Wall Street’s quarterly earnings reports. USMCA represented a significant departure from previous trade agreements because it recognized that labor standards and manufacturing competitiveness are national security issues, not merely economic ones.
The next logical step is ensuring that North America’s supply chains become strong enough to replace China’s. That cannot happen if Mexico remains economically weak.
Martínez Araiza argues that “the uncomfortable truth is that when the Mexican worker does well, the American worker does better, and vice versa.”
Some conservatives may instinctively resist that conclusion. They shouldn’t. A prosperous Mexico does not automatically mean fewer American jobs. It means a stronger regional manufacturing base capable of competing with Beijing instead of depending on it.
China’s competitive advantage has never rested solely on efficiency or innovation. For years it has combined state subsidies, industrial planning, intellectual property theft, and low production costs to dominate global manufacturing. Attempting to beat China by driving North American wages lower only accelerates a race to the bottom that neither American nor Mexican workers can win.
As Martínez Araiza puts it, “You do not defeat China by trying to be China.”
That observation reflects strategic reality. The United States possesses advanced technology, capital markets, and consumer demand. Mexico offers geographic proximity, industrial capacity, and an experienced manufacturing workforce. Canada provides critical natural resources and energy. Together, the three nations possess nearly every ingredient necessary to build the world’s strongest regional economy without relying on Chinese supply chains.
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That is precisely why strengthening USMCA remains one of the Trump administration’s most consequential economic priorities.
Trade agreements should not exist merely to increase trade volume. They should advance American strategic interests. In today’s geopolitical environment, those interests include reshoring manufacturing, securing critical supply chains, protecting intellectual property, and reducing dependence on the Chinese Communist Party. Every factory producing semiconductors, automotive components, or industrial equipment in North America instead of China strengthens America’s long-term position.
But rebuilding North American manufacturing also requires confronting a hard reality. Companies cannot be allowed to compete solely by exploiting wage disparities within the continent.
Martínez Araiza argues that stronger Mexican wages ultimately strengthen regional demand while reducing forced migration. “A secure border begins with a Mexican who does not have to flee his homeland to live with dignity,” he says.
That idea should resonate with conservatives who recognize that economic stability abroad often reduces pressure on America’s southern border more effectively than crisis management after migration has already begun.
The same principle extends into technology.
Artificial intelligence will transform manufacturing, logistics, and transportation over the coming decades. Martínez Araiza warns that workers should not simply become casualties of automation. Instead, he proposes a “technological dividend”—Ownership models that allow workers to share in the economic gains created by emerging technologies.
Whether policymakers adopt every aspect of that proposal is open to debate. What deserves attention is his broader principle: technology should strengthen societies rather than hollow them out.
Ultimately, America’s competition is not with Mexico. It is with China.
The countries that share this continent have every incentive to build the most secure, productive, and resilient manufacturing bloc in the world. That was always the strategic promise behind the Trump administration’s trade agenda. Stronger labor standards, resilient supply chains, and closer economic integration among trusted neighbors are not departures from America First. They are logical extensions of it.
Martínez Araiza summarized that vision in a single sentence: “There is no ‘America First’ with a ‘Mexico Last.’”
Taken in context, it is not an appeal for American sacrifice. It is a recognition that America’s strongest economic ally should never become its weakest link. If Washington is serious about confronting China, securing supply chains and restoring industrial leadership, then strengthening North America as a unified economic powerhouse may prove to be one of the most important strategic decisions of the coming decade.
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