General

Foreign media news on April 8, Mexico’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade Luce Maria de La Mora recently announced that in January and February 2021, the trade volume between Mexico and the United States reached US$96.998 billion (approximately RMB 6352). 100 million yuan), accounting for 14.9% of the total foreign trade of the United States, and the country has once again become the largest trading partner of the United States.

America first? After being dragged down by the "U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement", Mexico may find another helper!

It’s no surprise that Mexico has regained its status as the “largest trading partner” of the United States. After all, because of its “neighborhood”, the United States and Mexico have had close trade cooperation for many years. As early as 1991, the three countries signed the agreement. "North American Free Trade Agreement", which is also the predecessor of the "U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement" officially signed in July 2020. Other voices pointed out that the reason why Mexico's economy has been able to grow steadily over the years has played an important role in trade cooperation with the United States.

Although affected by the impact of the epidemic in 2020, the U.S. economy’s "unsafe nature" has caused a lot of decline in U.S.-Mexico trade, but as vaccination progress has accelerated, various industries have gradually recovered, and trade between the two countries has begun to recover. It is reported that in mid-March, the United States also promised to provide Mexico with 2.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to help Mexico’s economy "recover blood."

However, in recent years, due to the United States holding high the banner of protection, trade cooperation with the United States seems to have caused a "drag" to the Mexican economy. Take the strict rules of origin for automobiles in the "U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement" as an example, the agreement stipulates 75% of auto parts. It must be produced in the three countries to enjoy zero tariffs. At the same time, 40%-45% of the parts for zero-tariff cars must be produced by workers with a minimum wage of $16 per hour.

Simply put, the new regulations will restrict Mexico and Canada from importing steel and aluminum raw materials from other regions such as Europe. At the same time, it will also make Mexico lose its traditional advantage of low labor costs. Although according to US officials, “the new regulations better reflect free and fair trade”, in fact, the United States wants to revitalize its manufacturing industry through the new regulations. According to the comments of People’s Daily Online, this is a typical “America first”.

Based on this, some voices pointed out that Mexico is likely to find another "helper" in the future. After all, in order to achieve trade diversification, Mexico has signed free trade agreements with more than 40 countries.

China has become the "largest trading partner" of more than 120 countries! The United States needs China more?

Returning to Mexico's re-emergence as the largest trading partner of the United States, when the US-Mexico trade was sluggish during the epidemic, China-US trade data was very "outstanding." Statistics show that the total value of bilateral trade in goods between China and the United States in 2020 is 4.06 trillion yuan, of which exports to the United States are 3.13 trillion yuan, and imports from the United States are 931.87 billion yuan. China surpasses Mexico and becomes the largest trading partner of the United States.

In 2021, Mexico will once again become the largest trading partner of the United States, which may be related to China's slowing down of imports of oil and other commodities from the United States. According to foreign media reports, from January to February 2021, Chinese buyers purchased large quantities of Iranian crude oil, which is relatively cost-effective.

It should be noted that in addition to becoming the largest trading partner of the United States, China will also become the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions in the world in 2020. China News Network quoted experts to point out that China's super-large consumer market, stable industrial and supply chains, and continuously optimized business environment are continuing to release dividends to the world and provide a strong impetus for stabilizing global economic growth.

Even Mexico turned its attention to China during the epidemic. According to media reports, in July 2020, China and Mexico formally signed a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of a working group for unimpeded trade; Victor Cardner, vice chairman of the Mexican Chamber of Commerce, said that during the spread of the epidemic, China’s economy quickly resumed growth. It can be called "great news".