Georgia Firms Doing Business in Mexico City: Bring Your Vibes, Not Your Power Point

When doing business in Mexico City, it’s important to have a competitive product or service, but don’t expect to win business with just a slick slide deck. 

“You have to be very patient. You’re not going to close the deal within 20 or 30 minutes,” says William Lozano Arciniega, head of political and economic affairs at the Consulate General of Mexico in Atlanta. 

Mr. Lozano briefed the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce during a session designed to promote a trade mission to Mexico in May and prepare participants for what they’ll encounter on the ground.

Many Americans seeking to make inroads in the Mexican capital have run aground on cross-cultural differences, Mr. Lozano said. 

But those who embrace the need to build interpersonal trust, often through hours-long lunches or after-hours meetings with family and friends, may have a better chance at breaking through. Mexican business leaders sometimes operate more on personal vibes than spreadsheet efficiency. 

The operating principle: “I need to like you to do business with you.” 

The operating principle: “I need to like you to do business with you.” 

William lozano arciniega

After reciting trade data that provided the underlying business case for participating in the trade mission — Mexico in 2023 unseated China as the top U.S. trading partner — Mr. Lozano provided an introduction to his hometown of Mexico City, a modern metropolis built on layers of civilization since Tenochtitlan, the Aztec imperial capital built in the 13th century.  

“What I like for people to keep in mind when visiting Mexico City is just how old and lived-in the city is. Civilizations have existed in this valley for over seven centuries,” Mr. Lozano said. 

This gives locals a deeply grounded sense of identity and heritage, but constructing a metropolis of 20 million on what amounts to a massive archaeological site presents its own challenges, he said, showing a diagram of Mexico City’s zocalo, the main city square, overlaid with Aztec sites. 

“New generations have to build on top of the decisions and on top of the infrastructure led by previous generations. Mexico City is not a blank slate by any means,”  Mr. Lozano said.  

Going back to live in the capital later in life, Mr. Lozano came to appreciate the city’s efforts to lean into its more modern identity, from a functioning (though imperfect) public transit system serving 4 million people a day, to a newer shared bicycle system that serves about half the municipalities in the broader metro area. (Mr. Lozano used Ecobici for commuting. The price? About $33 for unlimited use all year).

“We’ve made great efforts to build new green corridors recover public spaces, which make just to make the city more livable and more breathable,” he said, taking on the role of an earnest city booster. “Congestion and traffic is an issue, and we’re aware of that, but a lot of effort has been made in order to reduce that level of congestion and that public transportation has been a big reason.” 

From May 3-7, GHCC is taking a delegation abroad for its third straight year, following up on trips to El Salvador and Colombia.

The pattern, unintentionally, has been to visit the origin countries of the chamber’s board chairs, and this year is no different.

“Supporting international partnerships like this one, especially between Georgia and Mexico, is key part of how we help businesses expand, innovate and create jobs on both sides of the border. But even more so, this relationship is personal for me,” said GHCC board chair Socorro Rodriguez, manager of credit and collections at Georgia Power, in opening comments. “I’m of Mexican descent, a proud daughter of Mexican immigrants and entrepreneurs. So it’s just that extra special touch.” 

The chamber has said that this year’s mission will include a glimpse at UPS and Walmart facilities in Mexico, showing how logistics and retail markets work in the country. Previous delegations have also included high-level meetings with U.S. consular officials, executives and host governments leaders. 

The Feb. 6 event was set to include presentations from UPS and Delta Air Lines, whose deep access to the country is key to linking the Georgia and Mexican economies despite an order to unwind joint-venture with Aeromexico due to antitrust concerns. Delta also carries a significant proportion of the 15 million tourists that descended on Mexico last year, a vote of confidence in the city’s commercial potential and culinary charms. (Delta is offering $100 vouchers to the first 15 trip registrants).

Veronica Maldonado-Torres, the chamber’s CEO, said creating tangible cross-border opportunities for Georgia companies is driving the chamber’s forays into new markets. 

“We love to travel and enjoy meeting unique people in unique places. But it really is about strategy. This is about business, and it’s about opportunity,” Ms. Maldonado-Torres said, teasing“trusted access opportunities that we will be unveiling and unlocking” soon. 

The fact that Georgia and Mexico reached $25 billion in 2024, up from $18 billion the previous year, is an achievement that should be shouted from the rooftops, Mr. Lozano said, even more so considering that 40 percent of each dollar of Mexican exports into the U.S. consists of content sourced originally from the U.S. 

Georgia’s top exports to Mexico are high-tech: aerospace products and parts, semiconductors and electronics, communications equipment, vehicle parts, with similar products dominating on the Mexican export side. Not only is Mexico the top import source for Georgia, but it’s also the state’s No. 1 customer. 

“It is sometimes crazy to me how much this gets lost in the narrative. It is not talked about enough for different reasons, geopolitics, politics in general. But I think we all have to contribute to making this clear for everyone,” Mr. Lozano said. 

The GHCC mission will precede a Georgia Department of Economic Development trip later that week of May, as well as an Atlanta Regional Commission leadership trip planned for July. 

The latter will give officials from metro Atlanta— more than a hundred of them, if prior foreign LINK trips are any indication — the chance to prepare notes with another World Cup host city. Mexico City will host three matches, including one featuring South Africa in June before the team plays a second group match in Atlanta. 

• Learn more and sign up for the GHCC Mexico business mission here

Consul General Rafael Laveaga spoke about the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the successor deal to NAFTA, at the chamber’s Feb. 17 legislative breakfast. 

See a Mexican foreign ministry fact sheet on trade with Georgia here: 

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