Santander to invest $2 billion in Mexico despite tariff threat

Mexico City, Mexico — Spain’s biggest bank, Santander, on Tuesday announced investments totaling more than $2 billion over three years in Mexico, hailing the country’s “enormous” potential despite trade tensions with the United States.

The group unveiled the launch of its fully digital bank, Openbank, in Latin America’s second-largest economy, which is wooing investors in the face of threatened US tariffs.

“In an environment that will be affected by tariffs, Mexico will differentiate itself in a positive way compared with many other countries,” executive chair Ana Botin said.

READ: US tariffs: A blow to the world economy

The Mexican peso “despite everything that is happening, continues to be a currency that is holding up much better than others, for example the euro,” she added.

On Monday, Botin met Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and afterward praised the country’s “enormous development potential” in comments on social media.

Openbank already operates in Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United States.

Last month, Sheinbaum presented a plan aimed at turning Mexico into the world’s 10th-largest economy with an ambitious goal of luring $277 billion of investment.

Her government is trying to avoid the sweeping 25-percent tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump by increasing cooperation in the fight against illegal flows of drugs and migrants.