Mexico is now the US’ largest trading partner, having moved past both China and Canada
Two-way trade between Mexico and the United States reached an all-time high of US $614.5 billion in 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported on Wednesday.
Mexico’s exports to its northern neighbor totaled a record $358.13 billion last year, a 3.5 percent increase compared to 2018. Meanwhile, imports from the United States declined 3.4 percent to $256.37 billion.
The combined value of the commercial exchange between the two countries was 0.5 percent higher than that recorded in 2018. The balance of trade showed a record surplus of $101.75 billion in Mexico’s favor, 26.2 percent higher than the 2018 surplus.
Data from the Department of Commerce also showed that Mexico is now the United States’ largest trading partner, having moved past both China and Canada. Trade between the two countries accounted for 14.8 percent of the U.S.’ total international trade last year.
Canada was the second biggest trade partner of the United States followed by China, Japan, Germany and South Korea.
China’s share of trade with the world’s largest economy took a hit as a result of the trade war between Washington and Beijing, which has helped Mexico increase its exports to its northern neighbor.
The record trade between Mexico and the United States last year came despite continuing uncertainty surrounding the new North American trade agreement and threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to impose blanket tariffs on Mexican imports if the Mexican government didn’t do more to stop the arrival of migrants on the two countries’ shared border.
Mexico, the United States and Canada finally signed a modified version of the USMCA in December while President López Obrador, who is determined to maintain harmonious relations with the U.S., averted the tariff threat by agreeing to deploy the National Guard to increase enforcement against migrants.
Source: El Financiero (sp)
Mexicans abroad send record US $36 billion back home in 2019
It was a 7 percent increase over the previous year’s remittances
Remittances sent home by Mexicans living abroad hit a record high of just over US $36 billion in 2019, the central bank reported.
The Bank of México (Banxico) said that Mexican families received US $36.04 billion from relatives abroad, most of whom work in the United States.
The amount is 7 percent higher than the US $33.67 billion sent to Mexico in 2018, in turn a figure that raised the bar over previous years.
Last year was the third consecutive year in which remittances totaled more than US $30 billion. The money was sent in 110 million separate transactions, Banxico said, a 5.6 percent increase over the 104 million completed in 2018.
The average remittance was US $326 compared to $322 in 2018. More than 98 percent of the funds were sent via electronic transfer, while the remainder arrived in Mexico in cash or via money orders.
Mexico is the third largest recipient of remittances after India and China, according to the Center for Latin American Monetary Studies, an organization comprised of central banks across the region.
However, Mexico is the largest recipient of funds from the United States, where approximately 7.5 million Mexicans work.
Source: El Economista (sp)
Farmers clash with National Guard over diversion of dam’s water to US
Mexico has a ‘water debt’ to its northern neighbor due to a 1944 bilateral treaty
More than 3,000 farmers and residents of four Chihuahua municipalities clashed with the National Guard on Tuesday over the federal government’s plan to divert water from a dam in the northern border state to the Rio Grande for the use of the United States.
The newspaper Milenio reported that protesters from Camargo, La Cruz, Delicias and San Francisco de Conchos confronted the guardsmen with the aim of removing them from the La Boquilla Dam, located on the Conchos River about 200 kilometers south of Chihuahua city.
The National Water Commission (Conagua) intends to open the sluices of the dam to divert hundreds of millions of cubic meters of water to the Rio Grande in order to comply with the 1944 bilateral water treaty between Mexico and the United States.
Mexico has a 220-million-cubic-meter “water debt” to its northern neighbor, Milenio reported. Chihuahua farmers say that the massive diversion planned by Conagua will leave them with insufficient water.
The National Guard and the army were deployed to La Boquilla last month after protesters broke into the dam on January 10.
Conagua said in a statement that it requested the intervention of the federal security forces to safeguard its operations. The incorrect use of the sluices and other dam equipment could pose a risk to the safety of residents, the water commission said.
The National Guard, however, wasn’t able to contain a large group of disgruntled farmers and residents who managed to break through their defenses during Tuesday’s confrontation.
The newspaper La Jornada reported that approximately 500 farmers entered the fenced-off dam precinct and pledged to remain at La Boquilla until Conagua guarantees that no water will be diverted from the dam.
However, on Wednesday morning guardsmen took back the dam without incident.
