The commercial relationship between Mexico and Ecuador has survived the last three months of uncertainty following the breaking of diplomatic relations, due to the violent incursion of the public force into the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest former vice president Jorge Glas. “Mexicans are still happy with commercial relations with Ecuador, selling,” said Daniel Noboa this Monday in an interview on Radio Sucre, in reference to the trade balance between both countries, which is more favorable for the northern country. “We have a deficit of almost 600 million dollars of trade imbalance with Mexico. It is one of our worst partners,” said the president, who cited imprecise figures. Although the balance does not lean in favor of Ecuador, the official figure is 500 million dollars of difference between what is imported and exported.
In 2023, Ecuador exported more than 300 products to Mexico, such as cocoa beans, minerals and metals, plastic, sugar and confectionery, rubber, vegetable oils and wooden boards, which totaled 202 million dollars. It imported 702 million dollars from Mexico in medicines, surgical devices, machines and mechanical devices, vehicles and cosmetics. “The president issued a political statement, because Mexico is indeed not among our main trading partners, but that does not mean that we despise the exports we send to that country,” says Felipe Ribadeneira, director of the Federation of Exporters of Ecuador (Fedexpor), who assures that there is the best possible relationship between the Mexican and Ecuadorian private sectors, despite the diplomatic wounds that opened at the beginning of April.
For Ribadeneira, this political back-and-forth could have been shielded if Manuel López Obrador had signed the trade agreement that was negotiated at the end of 2022, and which also prevented Ecuador from entering the Pacific Alliance. “That is one of the advantages of trade agreements, and it is that it protects businesses from these types of political problems that occur between nations,” adds the director of Fedexpor.
The diplomatic crisis between the two countries seems to have no short-term solution. In the radio interview, Noboa acknowledged that there has been no communication with Claudia Sheinbaum, the president-elect of that country, who has maintained the same position as her predecessor. “They have to take the step, the public apology, what the lawsuit is asking for and also the recognition of the right to asylum,” said Sheinbaum in a press conference days after winning the elections. “What Ecuador did with Mexico is not minor, so it is not a matter of sitting down to talk,” said Sheinbaum, with whom she distanced herself from a possible solution to the crisis. impasseThe Ecuadorian government has also not referred to the public apologies that Mexico has demanded in order to consider the start of a dialogue. In the absence of any open gesture, the Mexican foreign minister has already sealed an agreement with Switzerland to take care of the diplomatic assets in Quito.
While businesses are trying to sustain themselves through the ups and downs of politics, there are other sectors affected by presidential decisions, such as tourism and migration. With the closure of consulates, tourists have difficulty obtaining visas to enter Mexico. One of the evidences of the impact of the diplomatic rupture was the closure of the direct flight that Aeromexico had to Quito. And for migrants who travel irregularly to the United States, the absence of Ecuadorian consular authorities further violates their rights when crossing Mexico. As happened to an Ecuadorian family of five who were kidnapped for more than two weeks by a criminal group in Durango. The extortionists were asking for $22,000 to free them. The closure of the consular offices in Quito in Mexico complicated their release. This occurs at the worst time for Ecuadorian migrants fleeing the country’s violence and economic crisis to the North American country.
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