Mexico City.- Although relations with the embassies of the United States and Canada are on hold, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stressed before Congress the importance of trade relations with both partners.
According to the document submitted to legislators, Mexico has made constant efforts to strengthen trade ties with both nations in economic matters.
He said that, from September to December 2023, total trade in goods and services between Mexico and the United States amounted to 240,876 million dollars, while with Canada it was 10,682 million dollars. He pointed out that, during the first quarter of 2024 alone, trade exceeded 174 billion dollars, which keeps Mexico as the United States’ top trading partner.
The President said that between January and February of this year 2024, the country reached a record number of exports to the United States, with a value of 73 billion dollars, which represents an increase of 7.7 percent, compared to the same period in 2023.
At the regional level, he details, Mexico, the United States, and Canada collaborated to promote the relocation of investments in key industries of the future, such as semiconductors, energy transition, electric vehicles, and critical minerals. According to López Obrador, this collaboration is evident in the figures for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) received by Mexico in recent years. The report states that, as of the second quarter of 2024, Mexico received 13,717 million dollars from the neighboring country. López Obrador noted that, last year, the T-MEC partners positioned themselves as two of the main investors in Mexico, contributing 37.8 and 9.6 percent of the total, respectively, which adds up to more than 17 billion dollars. On May 27, at the culmination of various disagreements with the US government, AMLO placed the relationship with Washington at a point of maximum tension and, in the process, cooled the relationship with Canada. The decision was made after the ambassadors of both countries launched criticism against the reform of the Judicial Branch that is being discussed in the Mexican Congress.
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