Mexico breaks its streak and gives place to Canada as the first trading partner of the US in November 2022

Canada ranked first United States trading partner in November 2022, considering products and excluding services, and it was outlined in that same position for the entire year, due to the gap that separates it with Mexico, the Census Bureau reported this Thursday.

In November, Canada added a merchandise trade with its southern neighbor of 63.423 million dollars (29.778 million imports from the United States and 33.845 million exports to the United States).

Then Mexico was placed, with trade flows of 62,403 million dollars (25,596 million imports and 36,807 million exports).

Last October, Mexico accumulated three consecutive months as the first trading partner of the United States, approaching Canada, which ranked first in the sum of the first 10 months of 2022.

Already taking into account November, Canada accumulates a total trade with the United States of 733,075 million dollars and the corresponding one with Mexico is 718,333 million.

After Canada was the United States’ number one trading partner in 2014, China achieved leadership for the next four years, until Mexico displaced it in 2019, benefiting from the US-China trade war. But the latter country retook the lead in 2020, being one of the economies least affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Finally, in 2021, the three countries had a very close participation: Canada (14.5%), Mexico (14.4%) and China (14.3%).

Given that the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) Inherited the market access provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), most of the US tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada had already been removed.

Notwithstanding this, according to the US government, the USMCA is expected to increase the trade with Canada and Mexico around 5% and contributed to a greater concentration of trade between the United States and those two countries.

The USMCA is also expected to have a particular impact on the automotive sector due to the significant increase in the proportion of regional content required to confer origin, which in turn should encourage employment in that sector in the United States.

Regarding imports to the United States in November 2022, Canada shipped goods worth 33.845 million dollars, without change at the interannual rate; while shipments from Mexico were 36,807 million dollars, an increase of 6.4%, and those from China totaled 36,876 million, a reduction of 23.7 percent.

During that same month, Canada imported US products for 29,578 million dollars, an increase of 7.2% year-on-year, while the corresponding purchases from Mexico were 25,596 million, an increase of 6.6%, and those from China, 15,576 million. , a reduction of 1.8 percent.

The China’s total trade with the United States in the first 11 months of 2022 it was estimated at 639,499 million dollars, with exports of 499,452 million and imports of 140,047 million,

In particular, China continues to face increased tariffs under Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974, one of the primary legal means by which the US enforces US duties under trade agreements and addresses “unfair” foreign barriers. ” to US exports.