Mexican executives cheer Rowan for pushing U.S.-Mexico deal

Mexican business leaders and executives lauded statements from Apollo Global Management Inc. Chief Executive Marc Rowan emphasizing the need for a trade partnership between the U.S. and Mexico, which propelled a view that a global trade war could make the U.S.’ southern neighbor a winner amid uncertainty.

“The U.S. and Mexico together should be the driving economic force in the world for the next 50 years,” Rowan said during a Bloomberg TV interview from the sidelines of the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills on Monday.

“We have not been able to get there despite two or three rounds of massive free trade agreements,” he said.

The topic of trade was at the forefront at the Milken conference, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent opening the conference by saying tariffs, tax cuts and deregulation are “interlocking parts of an engine.” Later in the week, he said the U.S. was in talks with 17 major trade partners.

“Imagine coming to the world with Mexico and Canada resolved first, and then taking people piece by piece, country by country,” Rowan said during the Bloomberg TV interview. “We would be in a much stronger position to do what we need to do, to reset the terms of trade.”

Mexican executives cheered the comments from Rowan, who runs the $785-billion alternative asset manager, throughout the week, saying trade turmoil presented an opportunity for more integration between the U.S. and Mexico, especially as companies seek alternatives to China for manufacturing.

The two economies are complementary as most trade is for products produced in both countries, said Emilio Cadena, CEO of Prodensa and chairman of the board of the U.S.-Mexico Foundation.

“There’s almost perfect correlation, where for every manufacturing job created in Mexico, another is created in the U.S.,” Cadena said. “The U.S. wants to recover leadership in manufacturing, and Mexico can be its great partner in that.”

At Milken, Mexico was perceived as a strategic opportunity due to its proximity to the U.S., its young demographics and its large pension system, said Guadalupe Rodriguez, the chief investment officer at Mexican family office Talipot. She said Mexican investors made up a prominent voice in a closed-door session organized by Oaktree Capital Management, which included co-founders Bruce Karsh and Howard Marks.

“Mexico, we are the world’s amigo,” Rodriguez later said during a panel alongside other institutional investors.

Millan writes for Bloomberg.