Photos of Amazon’s new warehouse in Tijuana (Mexico) have toured the world. In the middle of houses of cardboard, wood and tarpaulins, the brand new building denotes, and becomes a symbol
“This is what capitalism is! The image made the rounds of social networks: a new Amazon warehouse erected in the Mexican city of Tijuana right next to a slum and … a few kilometers from the US border. It has become in a few hours a symbol for the contemptors of capitalism in the neoliberal era, whose main driving force is no more than the calculation of the best rate of profit.
Amazon seems to be breaking a taboo by going directly to the heart of these poor neighborhoods, which until then pretended to ignore. The calculation is however simple: the labor is much cheaper there, since the minimum wage is 9 dollars per day.
Bypass tariffs on China
A relocation like any other? Not quite when you look at the cynicism that led to this situation. It all started with the trade war waged against China by Donald Trump in 2019. The significant rise in tariffs on products imported from China, which represents a volume of 200 billion dollars, has become too heavy a burden for companies of online commerce.
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Amazon therefore sought a way to bypass these barriers by receiving the goods in Mexico via its new warehouse, with which there is a free trade treaty, the Canada-USA-Mexico Treaty (USMCA). However, this treaty includes a clause which allows a tax exemption for goods crossing the United States-Mexico border, as long as they do not exceed the value of 800 dollars.
Never mind: local workers are (poorly) paid to repackage these goods in packages not exceeding $ 800, which will then be trucked 24 minutes away, to the Otay Mesa warehouse, across the border. From there, these pillow-sized items can be redirected to all corners of the United States.
There would possibly remain to be fear of controls by the Consumer Product and Safety Commission or the Environmental Protection Agency, two independent American agencies, but fortunately for Amazon, another clause of the same USMCA treaty now frees Mexican imports from this type of control.
Amazon objects to job creation
The company founded by Jeff Bezos, for its part, argued that this warehouse, like those it opens all over the world, would represent 250 jobs, its spokesperson, Marisa Vano, advancing the figure of more than 15,000 jobs nationwide, since Amazon moved to Mexico. “Our salaries and benefits strengthen local communities, and these investments help these regions to develop and build a better future,” insisted Marisa Vano.
Reuters investigation however, revealed that Amazon’s warehouses in Mexico often use contractors, who impose excessive forced overtime and layoffs without paying severance pay.