Nearly a decade ago, when his company announced the purchase of a plant in Hermosillo, Mexico, adding $300 million in sales
and 1,700 employees to its payroll, Mr. Ross said the deal “demonstrates our commitment to expansion in low-cost countries.”
Eight years later, just before Mr. Trump began his presidential campaign, the company inaugurated a brand new plant, its eighth operation in Mexico.
MEXICO CITY — With a panel of senators questioning him, the billionaire investor Wilbur L. Ross stayed on message: If confirmed as President Trump’s commerce secretary, he would protect American workers
and tear up bad trade deals that harmed American industry.
As for Mexico, the report stated that because the company was a “resident, diversified textile
product manufacturer in Mexico,” it “believes that Nafta is generally advantageous.”
Mr. Ross sold the International Textile Group in October to another private equity firm.
As the head of an auto parts company, Mr. Ross shipped jobs to Mexico, taking advantage of the
North American Free Trade Agreement, which he now says is unfair and must be renegotiated.
One-third of the International Textile Group’s revenue is generated by two factories in Mexico,
and in its 2015 annual report, published when Mr. Ross was still in charge, the company was clear where the future lay — not in the United States, but in Mexico and China.
“We cannot afford trade that is inherently bad for American workers and for American businesses,” Mr. Ross said during his testimony.