Mexico's Exports Increase

My former student John Hyatt alerted me to this article in El Universal about how Mexican non-petroleum exports to the United States increased 7.2% in 2017 over 2016. The biggest gain was in the car industry.

They speculate there are two main possible reasons. First, Mexican exporters are jumping to sell what they can before Donald Trump does something to NAFTA. Second, they are just taking advantage of the weak peso, which was caused in no small part by Trump's election.

I actually think the most important aspect of the data is that Mexican exports to other parts of the world grew by 15.8%. What this means it that as NAFTA disaster looms, Mexico is already poised and ready to increase its trade with the rest of the world. Its other major trading partners are Canada, China, Germany, and Japan. Right now Mexico is working to expand trade with the European Union in general.

Not surprisingly in the Trump era, the U.S. loses.