Texas Border Business
By Roberto Hugo Gonzalez / Texas Border Business
Metropolitan Automotive Cluster and COSTEP Sign MoU to Strengthen Industrial Integration between Mexico and the Rio South Texas Region
The agreement focuses on enhancing competitiveness in the automotive sector through investment and innovation.
On October 21, 2025, the Metropolitan Automotive Cluster (Clúster Automotriz Metropolitano, CLAUTMET) and the COSTEP, Council for South Texas Economic Progress, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Adient plant in Lerma, solidifying a partnership to strengthen binational collaboration in the automotive manufacturing sector.
The signing ceremony was led by Elisa Crespo, President of CLAUTMET, and Adam González, CEO of COSTEP. The agreement outlines joint efforts to enhance competitiveness through “investment attraction, supply chain strengthening, advanced manufacturing, and specialized workforce development.”
Crespo described the MoU as “a vehicle to connect Mexico’s manufacturing capabilities with Rio South Texas’s growing industrial infrastructure.” She added that “the automotive sector is one of the most globally connected industries, and this collaboration will help us take advantage of nearshoring dynamics and regional production trends.”
González highlighted the long-standing integration of both regions’ industrial ecosystems, noting that “Mexico and Rio South Texas have worked side by side in manufacturing for decades. This agreement provides the framework to accelerate cooperation, innovation, and competitiveness in a key industry for North America.”
The MoUs are designed to establish a mutually beneficial strategic collaboration between COSTEP and leading business and industrial organizations in Mexico to promote the Rio South Texas Region as a competitive destination for investment, business expansion, and supply chain integration. This collaboration seeks to increase visibility of the region’s geographic, productive, and logistical advantages, including cities such as Brownsville, Harlingen, McAllen, Edinburg, Pharr, Mission, Weslaco, Donna, and Laredo, while highlighting their manufacturing capacity, international trade infrastructure, and direct links to the industrial ecosystem of Tamaulipas.
Additionally, the partnership supports industrial matchmaking and supplier development, enabling companies in Mexico to identify new sourcing, expansion, and investment opportunities—generating economic growth and job creation on both sides of the border. As part of this effort, COSTEP is developing a Regional Industrial Data System, a comprehensive platform documenting what is produced in the region, by whom, and at what scale, to support investment promotion, supply chain integration, and strategic planning across participating organizations.
By partnering with the Metropolitan Automotive Cluster, COSTEP advances its goal of making the Rio South Texas Region not only a trade corridor but a center for industrial innovation—where Mexico’s manufacturing strength and U.S. market access converge to drive the next phase of North American competitiveness.
