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US Trade With Latin America Grew 4.5% Last Year
As Trump threatens tariffs on Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
BY LATINVEX STAFF
US trade with Latin America grew by 4.5% last year to $1.3 trillion, according to a Latinvex analysis of new data from the US Census Bureau. US exports of goods to the region inched up by 1.5% to $577.2 billion, while imports increased at a faster pace — by 7.1% to $701.3 billion.
The US trade deficit with Latin America widened by 37.1% to $134.5 billion. However, those results were caused by a $171.8 billion deficit with Mexico. The United States actually posted a $47.3 billion surplus in trade with Central and South America.
MEXICO
Trade with Mexico –the largest US trade partner in the world – grew by 4% to $829.9 billion. The United States exported goods for $324 billion last year, an increase of 0.4%. Meanwhile, imports grew by 6.4% to $505.9 billion.
Cars and auto parts play a key role in US trade with Mexico. US imports from Mexico of auto parts reached $82.5 billion, while exports of auto parts to Mexico reached $35.8 billion.
US imports of passenger cars from Mexico reached $48.7 billion, higher than passenger car imports from Germany, Japan and Korea.
US trade with Mexico is now under threat after President Donald Trump on February 1 announced a 25% tariff on all imports under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and Mexico said it would respond in kind against imports from the United States.
On February 3, Trump announced he would delay the tariffs by one month after Mexico said it would send 10,000 National Guard officers to the border to help stem the flow of fentanyl and migration into the US, a key demand from Trump for it to avoid tariffs.
“The President is right to focus on major problems like our broken border and the scourge of fentanyl, but the imposition of tariffs under IEEPA is unprecedented, won’t solve these problems, and will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains,” John Murphy, Senior Vice President and Head of International at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.
He welcomed Trump’s pause of the tariffs and announced that the Chamber and its members “will be fully engaged to ensure this 30-day pause becomes a permanent lifting of the threat of tariffs and a trade war.”
SOUTH AMERICA
US trade with Central and South America reached $365 billion last year, an increase of 5.8%. US exports grew by 3.3% to $206.1 billion, while imports expanded 7.1% to $664.7 billion.
Four South American countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia – accounted for nearly half of all US exports to Central and South America.
Of those only Brazil and Colombia posted gains in terms of US exports.
However, Trump on January 26 threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Colombia (going up to 50% after one week) as well as other sanctions after Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro planned to block two US flights with Colombian deportees. Trump suspended those measures later that day after Colombia accepted the flights. (See Chronicle of A Crisis Foretold)
On January 30, Trump warned off BRICS member countries – which includes Brazil — from replacing the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency by repeating a 100%-tariffs threat he had made weeks after winning the November presidential elections.
US exports to Brazil last year grew 11.3% to $49.7 billion, while imports increased 8.3% to $42.3 billion. US exports to Colombia grew 7.7% to $19 billion, while imports expanded 9.8% to $17.7 billion.
Meanwhile, US exports to Argentina and Chile fell last year. Exports to Argentina shrank 19.5% to $9.2 billion, while exports to Chile declined 3.2% to $18.2 billion.
Argentina’s exports to the US fell 10.4% to $7.1 billion, while Chile managed to increase its exports to US by 5.6% to $16.5 billion, according to the Latinvex analysis of new data from the US Census Bureau.
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