On Tuesday, February 9, United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk is meeting with Mexican Secretary of Economy Gerardo Ruiz Mateos in Mexico City. This week the Weekly Trade Spotlight highlights the U.S.-Mexico trade relationship.
Today, Mexico is America's third largest trading partner - and it is the number one trading partner for 22 American states. In 2008, $367 billion dollars worth of imports and exports crossed the Mexican-American border - that's more than $1 billion dollars every single day.
That trade supports countless American jobs and businesses all across the country. There's the Mobile, Alabama company with 150 American employees that contracts with the Mexican dredging industry. There's the West Texas tire retreading company with 1,200 employees and strong annual sales in Mexico. There's the Louisiana company with 125 employees that caters to the Mexican market for hearing aids. And there are many more.
Since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, U.S. exports to Mexico have more than doubled to $160 billion in 2008 alone. In 2007, the U.S. maintained an $8.2 billion dollar services trade surplus with Mexico. Mexico was the number one market for US exports of rice, beef, soybean meal and dry beans according to the USDA. In 2008, the U.S. also exported $353 million in rice to Mexico.
As Ambassador Kirk said last month at the inauguration of the U.S.-Mexico Anzaldúas border crossing, "That trade makes us all stronger."
