customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

summary

updatedDate

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Igor Patrick

Sino-Mexican trade is not reciprocal and the North American country must review China’s practices, its finance minister said on Saturday, echoing American concerns about industrial overcapacity.
Mexico buys “US$119 billion a year from China and we sell US$11 billion”, according to Rogelio Ramirez de la O, who accused Beijing of boosting its share of global exports “at the expense of North America”.
Washington had “facilitated China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, opening the door for [Beijing] to increase its production destined for North America – not only for the US but also for Mexico”, he continued.
“China has increased its global exports from 3.8 per cent to 14 per cent in just 22 years, and this increase has largely come at North America’s expense,” Ramirez de la O said.
Meanwhile, the region’s share of global exports “has fallen from 19 per cent in 2000 to 13 per cent in 2022”, he added.


Ramirez de la O offered the critical observations during an event in the Mexican city of San Luis Potosi attended by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum and incoming economy minister Marcelo Ebrard.
Over the period from 2000 to 2022, China’s share of global GDP surged by more than 15 per cent while North American countries experienced a decline, Ramirez de la O said.
“It is only logical to expect that both Americans and Mexicans demand our fair share of this global demand.”
Ramirez de la O believed the government had to make Mexicans aware that “it is necessary to produce more than we consume because we are heavily dependent on the Chinese for basic products for our households”.
This is why “we are now considering making changes to investment policy and paying more attention to foreign investment, focusing on production policy”, he said.
And despite the USMCA – a 2020 free-trade pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada – the region “remains very dependent on imports from China,” Ramirez de la O warned.
Canada depends on China for 13.5 per cent of all its consumption, he said, describing US dependence as even higher at 16.5 per cent and Mexico’s at 19.6 per cent.
In contrast, Ramírez de la O noted, China was only 8.8 per cent dependent on imports from North America.

Ebrard, a former Mexican foreign minister whom Sheinbaum has chosen to handle the country’s economy portfolio, reiterated Ramirez de la O’s message.
He hailed the fact that the US is Mexico’s main trading partner and said he planned to continue integrating the two economies when Sheinbaum takes office in October.
Tensions between Beijing and Washington have recently sharpened American scrutiny of Mexico’s relationship with China.
In December, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Mexico to discuss strengthening financial cooperation between the two countries and defended a mechanism to monitor foreign investments in Mexican territory.
The goal, Biden administration officials said, was to prevent Chinese companies from skirting tariffs and sanctions by taking advantage of USMCA rules.
Former American president and 2024 Republican nominee Donald Trump has also been vocal on the issue.
During a speech last week at the Republican Party’s national convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he complained about large Chinese factories being built on the US-Mexico border.
“They’re being built by China to make cars and to sell them into our country, no tax, no anything,” said Trump. “We have long been taken advantage of by other countries. And think of it, oftentimes these other countries are considered so-called allies. They’ve taken advantage of us for years.”


Less talk, more results will improve China-US relations, international relations expert says

Eyeing China, US to deploy satellites with advanced sensors for tracking targets by 2030s

New York governor calls for China’s consul general expulsion after aide charged

China urged to ‘fully evaluate’ wider impact of US tech war

US-China relations

China’s trade with Mexico is not reciprocal, says finance minister, echoing US concerns

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (left) attends a press conference with Mexican Finance Minister Rogelio Ramirez de la O in Mexico City on December 7, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s incoming economy minister, presents the cabinet of President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico City on June 20. Photo: Bloomberg

US initiative to produce semiconductors in Latin America announced by Antony Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during an Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity meeting in Washington on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martinez Acha (left) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speak during an Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity meeting at the State Department in Washington. Photo: Reuters

US President Joe Biden speaks about the economic benefits of the Chips and Science Act in April in Syracuse, New York. Photo: AFP via Getty Images/TNS

WTO says China is backsliding on key reforms and lacks transparency on subsidies

Subsidies for sectors such as electric vehicles are a key concern for the likes of the US and EU. Photo: Xinhua

The report will be debated by the World Trade Organization at its headquarters in Geneva. Photo: AFP

US, Mexico move to stop China evading steel, aluminium tariffs

A staff memberat a steel company in  Zhejiang Province, China. The US unveiled stricter rules on Wednesday on steel and aluminium imports from Mexico, moving to prevent China-originated goods from avoiding tariffs. Photo: EPA-EFE/Xinhua

A worker produces steel structure products at a workshop in Hefei, East China’s Anhui province. Photo: Getty Images

Chinese ‘underground bankers’ launder Sinaloa cartel drug money, US says

Confiscated drug money is seen in an undated photo provided by US authorities. Photo: US District Attorney via AP

An undated image provided by US authorities shows confiscated drugs piled up in a truck bed. Photo: US District Attorney via AP

As Chinese businesses launch operations in Mexico, managers learn cross-cultural lessons

Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

A BYD advertisement at the Mexico City airport. Photo: Ji Siqi

Roberto Arechederra, Jalisco’s secretary of economic development. Photo: Handout

Haitian, an injection-moulding machine maker from China’s Ningbo city, has a plant in Centro Logistico Jalisco. Photo: Igor Patrick

Inside the Haitian factory in Centro Logistico Jalisco. Photo: Ji Siqi

News

China

World

Americas

United States & Canada

Knowledge

Topics

US-China Trade War

US-China Relations

Mainland GDP growth comes ‘at expense of North America’, so only logical that both Americans and Mexicans demand fair share of global demand


Mainland GDP growth comes ‘at expense of North America’, so only logical that both Americans and Mexicans demand fair share of global demand.
