Mexico has fallen out of the top 10 in the consulting firm PwC’s latest global investment ranking, after climbing to a tie for eighth place last year.
The 29th PwC Global CEO Survey, unveiled at the World Economic Forum taking place in Davos, Switzerland, this week, gathered responses from 4,454 CEOs across 95 countries, including Mexico, between Sept. 30 and Nov. 10, 2025.
The United States has actually become more popular among global CEOs as a destination for international investment, despite Trump’s interventions, acc to PwC’s CEO survey. pic.twitter.com/iRicsqoVWT
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) January 19, 2026
The CEOs’ input revealed a more somber mood than last year. A noteworthy 30% of respondents were less optimistic about business opportunities in 2026. Just over half of CEOs plan to make international investments in 2026, at 51%.
They were asked which three countries or territories, excluding their own, would receive the greatest proportion of capital expenditure from their company in the next 12 months.
The United States came out on top for investor preference, with 35% of CEOs placing it in the top three countries that will receive the highest proportion of their investment.
Here are PwC’s top 10 global investment destinations:
For 2026
- United States: 35%
- Germany: 13%
- India: 13%
- United Kingdom: 13%
- China: 11%
- United Arab Emirates: 8%
- Saudi Arabia: 7%
- France: 7%
- Spain: 6%
- Singapore: 6%
For comparison, here are last year’s rankings:
For 2025
- United States: 30%
- United Kingdom: 14%
- Germany: 12%
- China: 9%
- India: 7%
- France: 7%
- United Arab Emirates: 6%
- Australia: 5%
- Singapore: 5%
- Mexico: 5%
While the launch of the Plan México national investment strategy in January 2025 was expected to attract more investors to Mexico, the introduction of U.S. tariffs on Mexico and other countries drove up investor uncertainty in 2025.
In 2026, CEOs are more concerned about the potential impact of tariffs, as 20% of CEOs thought their companies would be highly exposed to the risk of significant losses due to tariffs over the next year.
The three primary concerns for participants were economic volatility (31%), technological disruption (24%) and geopolitics (23%). Almost one-third said that geopolitical uncertainty is making them less likely to make large new investments.
Many CEOs viewed reinvention as a growth strategy, with 42% of respondents saying their company had begun competing in new sectors over the past five years. Meanwhile, 44% expect to invest outside their current industry, with technology being the most attractive sector.
With reports from El Economista
