The USMCA strengthens US exports, supports domestic manufacturing jobs through co-production and keeps investment in the region instead of shifting to non-allied economies.
This is not abstract. It is measurable.
Mexico is the United States top trading partner with $840 billion in bilateral trade, more than US trade with Japan, Germany, Korea and the UK combined.
That is $1.6 million every minute supporting real US jobs and communities. Thirty-seven US states have Mexico among their top three trading partners.
This is coproduction, not outsourcing. When Mexico exports, United States exports too. Nearly 40% of the value of Mexico's exports to the US is US made content. Mexican manufacturing strengthens American factories, farmers and suppliers. Furthermore, Mexico is the largest US export destination in the world.
Mexico buys 16% of all US exports, more than Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK combined. This includes key sectors from corn and soybeans to iron and steel, electrical machinery, plastics, aerospace and medical devices. An integrated US-Mexico economy means that job creation in Mexico has a multiplier effect in the United States, with approximately three US jobs created for every job in Mexico. Our integrated production makes the US economy more competitive in world markets.
The US and Mexico are an integrated regional economy. We complement each other. We don't compete. The outcome of this unique economic integration is that for every job that is created in Mexico, three American jobs are created at home. Five million American jobs directly depend on trade with Mexico, and every dollar Mexico exports includes 40 cents of US inputs.
Mexico is not the problem. Mexico is part of the solution.
Our region's competitiveness is built on decades of effort and trust. Integrated supply chains have made North America a manufacturing powerhouse, and the USMCA review offers a new opportunity to deepen integration, attract investment and create quality jobs. This structural shift will shape the next stage of our economic relationship.
Editor's Note: The above commentary was penned by Judith Arrieta Mungia, Consul General of Mexico in Brownsville, Texas. The commentary appears in the RGG Business Journal with the permission of the author.
