Our Story
Learn our story, leadership, and mission shaping manufacturing in Mexico.
Mexico vs Canada for Manufacturing
For Canadian manufacturers serving U.S. demand, Mexico pairs direct labor at a fraction of Canadian cost with CUSMA access that the Section 338 duties do not reach, while your Canadian plant stays intact. Canada keeps the edge in home-market volume, production that belongs beside your R&D team, and skilled trades.
Why Growing U.S. Sales From Canada Is Getting Harder
Canadian manufacturing labor runs about $38 an hour across all roles, fully fringed, and U.S. tariffs now reach certain Canadian goods regardless of CUSMA status (September 2026). Most manufacturers don’t need to leave Canada: they need added capacity that serves U.S. demand at Mexican cost.
$38 vs $4.33
Canadian employer cost per hour across all manufacturing roles, against unskilled production roles on a Tetakawi Campus.
Comparison
Mexico vs Canada at a Glance
Compare labor cost, U.S. market access, workforce for added capacity, production beside R&D, and speed to launch.
| Canada | Mexico | |
|---|---|---|
| Labor Cost | Canada About $38 an hour across all manufacturing roles, fully fringed | Mexico Unskilled from about $4.33, skilled trades from about $7.74, fully fringed |
| U.S. Market Access | Canada Furniture, apparel and hundreds more HTS lines face 50% Section 338 duties | Mexico Section 338 does not reach Mexico; CUSMA-qualifying goods pay no ordinary or Section 301 duty |
| Workforce for Added Capacity | Canada Skilled trades are tight; the binding constraint is U.S. market access | Mexico A 9.7 million-strong workforce, assessed city by city |
| Production Beside R&D | Canada Your plant sits beside your engineering team | Mexico A flight away; most manufacturers we support keep NPI and low-volume work at home |
| Speed to Launch | Canada A greenfield launch depends on site readiness, permitting, and construction | Mexico Get started in as little as 30 days |
Testimonials
Manufacturers Already Operating in Mexico
Manufacturers producing in Mexico gain labor costs their home market cannot match, CUSMA access to U.S. customers, and room to grow. Here is how some of the 60+ manufacturers operating on Tetakawi Campuses describe it.
“How do we drive costs down? How do we make ourselves competitive in a commercial environment? We needed a partner that helped us compete on cost, and that was what Tetakawi offered us. When I started in Guaymas we had 350 employees in one building. Now we’re in three buildings with nearly 800 employees.”
Brian Berich, Director of Operations, BAE Systems
“Mexico is one of the best places to manufacture engine components, not only because of low cost but because of capability. Mexico has spent years growing talent and working with universities to build the engineering capability for complex processes. People would be surprised by the amount of talent and technical knowledge in this area.”
Enrique Vega, General Manager, Pursuit Aerospace
Campus Pillars
Everything You Need to Reach Your Potential in Mexico
Predictable manufacturing in Mexico requires reliable space, people, logistics, and compliance. On a Tetakawi Campus, one partner runs all four, so you don’t have to coordinate a patchwork of vendors.
Industrial Space
Set up in a Class A building on a Tetakawi Campus, move-in ready or adapted to your process. Tetakawi runs the Campus and maintains the buildings, so the building is never your project.
Workforce
Define the roles and the standards, then run the plant. Tetakawi recruits, hires, and employs the people, runs payroll and benefits, and holds the union agreement, so your managers stay on production.
Logistics
Bring materials in and ship product out with a U.S. broker you select. Tetakawi holds the Mexican import and export permits your shipments move under, and stages your freight at its U.S. cross-docks.
Compliance
Operate under Tetakawi’s IMMEX shelter program, without forming your own Mexican company. Tetakawi holds the permits and registrations and answers to the authorities for the entity’s filings.
FAQs
Manufacturing in Mexico vs Canada FAQs
Weighing a Mexican operation alongside your Canadian plant? The questions we get most often from manufacturers comparing their options.
Does CUSMA protect our products from the new U.S. tariffs?
No.
The Section 338 proclamations of July 20, 2026 apply to covered goods regardless of CUSMA-originating status, and the 50% duties took effect on August 22, 2026 after a three-day suspension lapsed. CBP’s September 11, 2026 guidance identifies September 15, 2026 as the effective date for changes to the covered product lists and, for the alcohol and motor-vehicle lists, the end of the Section 232 exemption, so those Section 338 duties stack on Section 232 tariffs. Import bans on packaged alcohol, certain dairy and large motorcycles carry a September 29 effective date. Canada’s counter-tariffs on C$27.6 billion of U.S. goods took effect September 8. For the Section 338 duties, CUSMA compliance is not the shield most exporters assumed: 96% of exporting respondents say their products qualify, and 61% say their business cannot survive without U.S.-market access (KPMG Canada, surveyed May 2026).
How much does manufacturing in Mexico cost compared with Canada?
About $38 an hour in Canada across all roles. From about $4.33 on a Tetakawi Campus.
Total employer compensation per hour worked in Canadian manufacturing was about C$52, or US$38, in 2024, at the Bank of Canada average rate for that year. On a Tetakawi Campus, direct labor starts at about $4.33 per hour fully fringed for unskilled positions and rises by role and Campus (at 17.5 pesos per dollar and Mexico’s 48-hour statutory week, the basis our 2026 labor-cost model uses). Fully fringed means base pay plus employer payroll taxes and statutory benefits, not take-home pay. The Canadian figure covers every manufacturing role, because Statistics Canada publishes no compensation figure by occupation. Two of its other series narrow it: hourly-paid manufacturing employees averaged C$32.10 an hour in 2025, and non-wage costs were 24% of manufacturing compensation in 2024. Together those put the employer cost for Canadian production roles at roughly US$30 an hour, our calculation from Statistics Canada series, not a published Statistics Canada number. Your own total depends on your role mix, space, utilities, and freight.
Can we keep our Canadian plant and still add capacity in Mexico?
Yes, and that is the pattern.
In KPMG Canada’s survey, 80% of Canadian manufacturers plan to keep their Canadian headquarters, even as 42% have moved production to the U.S. or are considering it. The split that works: the Canadian plant keeps home-market volume and the production that belongs beside your engineering teams, while a Mexican operation carries the U.S.-bound volume that tariffs put at risk. Canada has its own labor tightness, with about 39,500 manufacturing vacancies in June 2026, but the binding constraint at home is market access, not people. And if the current actions lapse, the Mexican operation still carries the labor-cost gap and the CUSMA access: the tariff is the prompt, not the business case.
How much control would we keep over the operation?
It depends on the model you choose, not the country.
Contract manufacturing hands production to someone else. On a Manufacturing Campus you keep day-to-day control: you define the roles and the staffing plan, select from the candidates presented, set the standards, and direct, supervise and train the team. Tetakawi hires on your instruction, is the employer of record, and administers the environment around you.
How fast can we be operating in Mexico?
In as little as 30 days, on any of the five Campuses.
The building, workforce systems and legal framework already exist, so a well-prepared operation can get started in as little as 30 days. Most operations go from deciding on Mexico to producing in Mexico in three to six months. Building standalone typically takes 8 to 18 months before you can operate. Your timeline depends on your equipment and certifications, and mapping it is part of the evaluation.
What does it take to find out whether Mexico fits?
Four steps, in order.
1. Get in touch. A conversation about your exposure: which U.S.-bound products the current actions cover, the contracts behind them, and what your Canadian plant would keep.
2. Measure ROI. The rules-of-origin analysis so you know whether your Mexico-made products qualify under CUSMA, and the cost model for the full operation, direct labor by role, real estate, utilities and freight, set against your Canadian baseline. We also stress it against the tariffs going away, so the case stands on its own.
3. Site visit. Walk the Campus, meet the people who would run your account, and talk with manufacturers already operating there.
4. Launch and grow. When you give the green light, the same team that helped you build the case guides the launch, and the people who run the Campus are a phone call or a short walk away.
Build a Predictable Path to Manufacturing in Mexico
Start with a conversation, not a commitment: tell us your goals, and we’ll help you decide whether a Campus fits.
