Business developments and disputes are in the news for San Miguel de Allende and the state of Guanajuato lately, along with a startling number of fires, ongoing hotel construction and a lab to support viticulture (wine grape cultivation) at a local university.
US senators want a probe into companies exporting from Mexico
Two U.S. senators have asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to investigate the importation of heavy construction and agricultural equipment from U.S.-owned production facilities in Mexico, including one in Querétaro.
A March 26 letter signed by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), requested a government investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1952. President Trump has used that law to restrict imports or impose tariffs, citing national security concerns.
“Comprehensive trade remedies are needed to hold companies accountable for offshoring jobs and compel the industry to move these manufacturing jobs back to the United States,” the letter stated. The companies are Caterpillar, which has more than 29 facilities and more than 14,000 employees in Mexico; John Deere, which has plants in three Coahuila cities and in Monterrey, Nuevo León (with a new one coming this year in Nuevo León); and Case New Holland (CNH), which has a production facility in Querétaro originally established by Ford in 1964.
It remains to be seen how this request might be handled, given the current renegotiation of the USMCA Act, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent action overturning the Trump tariffs and Trump’s request that those three companies and others in the sector lower agricultural equipment prices to U.S. farmers.
Nearly 900 fires have been reported to date around San Miguel
More than 500 hectares (1,235 acres) have been burned in 883 fires reported in and around San Miguel so far this year. This number includes a fire on March 4 at the El Charco del Ingenio Botanical Garden on the western edge of the city. Four hectares of El Charco’s total of 67 hectares (about 165 acres) also burned about a year ago.
Other reported fires included more than 90 hectares burned in the Los Picachos mountains south of San Miguel and some outbreaks near, and sometimes including, residential areas.
Since dryer weather has arrived, Civil Protection officials have warned that additional fires can be expected in grassy areas and vacant lots around the city.
Big cranes loom over a hotel construction site
Two huge cranes were recently spotted inside the Waldorf Astoria construction site on El Cardo in Centro. Work has been ongoing at what was previously a large parking lot since shortly after the announcement of the hotel project in December 2022.
Completion of the 120-room and 24-residence hotel has been pushed back one year to 2027 from the original schedule. The project, owned by Peakair Group, is being developed by Mexico City-based Skyplus Developments Corp. and will be managed by Hilton.
Viticulture lab built at local technological university
The state of Guanajuato Ministry of Public Works has invested more than 12 million pesos (about US $667,000) in a viticulture program laboratory at the Technological University of San Miguel de Allende, east of the city. The work includes a raw material reception and preparation area, an area for fermentation and wine processing, and a wine cellar.
Guanajuato is attracting attention for producing good wines and has won many awards for them in recent years. It is one of 14 major wine-producing areas in Mexico and one of the four most important ones, along with Baja California, Coahuila and Querétaro.
The Technological University of San Miguel de Allende opened in 2007 and is an academic unit of the Technological University of Northern Guanajuato in Dolores Hidalgo. It is a non-profit public institution and offers both two-year technical degree programs and four-year bachelor’s degree programs.
Cathy Siegner is an independent journalist based in San Miguel and Montana. She has journalism degrees from the University of Oregon and Northwestern University.
