When geopolitics takes a seat at the factory table
If you look at the map calmly, you can see that production centers are no longer chosen solely on the basis of costs or tax incentives. Today, diplomatic corridors, blocked channels, cross-sanctions, and tariffs that change overnight carry weight.
In this shifting landscape, Morocco has become an interesting territory for foreign companies that manufacture close to Europe without being inside it.
The country offers something that is valued more each year: reasonable stability, good maritime connectivity, and an industrial policy that, with its ups and downs, attempts to attract serious manufacturing. Industrial acceleration zones, trade agreements, and the drive of sectors such as automotive, aerospace, and energy have shaped a productive ecosystem that did not exist two decades ago. But it is not a refuge without rough edges.
From the southern shore of the Strait, one can see how major global movements affect local industry: port delays, tensions in gas and transport prices, supply chains that must be redrawn with each crisis. The conflict in Gaza, the partial blockade of the Red Sea, and US and European tariffs serve as a reminder that international production today is a game played on a board with no fixed squares.
Morocco, despite its apparent distance, is not immune to this game. Its factories import raw materials, resins, steel, and components that travel halfway around the world before reaching the workshops of Tangier, Kenitra, or Nador. A political decision in Washington, Beijing, or Brussels can alter Moroccan production costs as much as a change in the minimum wage or local taxation.
Even so, there are advantages that weather the storms. Producing a few hours by boat from Europe reduces logistical risks and allows for a quick response to the ups and downs of international trade. Preferential rules of origin open the door to competitive exports if sufficient local content can be incorporated. And diversification towards West Africa or the eastern Mediterranean means that there is no dependence on a single market when the winds change direction.
The issue, however, is not just one of distance or taxes. It is about building industrial resilience, a term that is often used lightly but which in Morocco takes on a concrete form: dual logistics routes, trained local suppliers, hedged contracts, contingency plans, and constant monitoring of the political environment. Companies that manufacture here quickly learn that the production schedule can be disrupted by decisions made thousands of miles away.
It's pragmatism. It's the times we live in. The globalization that promised certainty has grown old, and its replacement is an economy of balance, where proximity and prudence outweigh speed. Morocco, with its mix of commercial tradition and modern ambition, fits into this new order quite naturally.
For entrepreneurs, executives, and professionals thinking of setting up industrial operations in the Kingdom, the conclusion is simple: it is no longer enough to calculate costs. You have to read the newspapers, follow diplomatic cables, and understand that a production plant does not float in a vacuum. It is subject to the same waves as the ships that cross the Strait.
And in that sea, those who know how to adjust their sails in time will continue to sail. The others, as always, will simply watch the tide change.
Juan Antonio Vidal. Plant Manager, InCom Composites Morocco SARL