In 2023, Mexico participated with almost eight of every US$10 in merchandise exported to that country from Latin America, and also absorbed 62% of what the US sells in the region.
The United States represented approximately 31% of merchandise imports to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and 45% of merchandise exports from this region.
The majority of this trade is with Mexico, covering 77% of US imports from the region and 62% of US exports to the region in 2023.
In 2023, the value of total U.S. trade with the region decreased slightly (1%), U.S. merchandise exports decreased from $542.8 billion in 2022 to $517.6 billion in 2023, and merchandise imports to the United States United States increased from US$603.7 billion to US$620.7 billion.
According to an analysis by the United States Congress, the main imports to this country from the region include motor vehicles and spare parts, mostly from Mexico.
Conversely, major U.S. exports from the region are in the electrical machinery and parts categories, which include electrical products and components.
While Mexican exports to the United States were US$480,000 million in 2023, with a year-on-year increase of 5%, sales from Brazil - the second largest supplier - to that same destination fell 1%, to US$41,000 million.
In descending order, exports from Colombia (US$ 17 billion, -13%), Chile (US$ 17 billion, -1%) and Costa Rica (US$ 11 billion, +19%) followed.
According to the analysis, Congress may consider whether or not to respond, with oversight activities or legislative options, to the initiatives of President Joe Biden's Administration regarding economic relations with the LAC region.
Congress could also consider evaluating the effectiveness of existing free trade agreements or other types of trade agreements in the region, pursuing broader market-opening measures such as the FTAA proposed in the mid-1990s, or examining proposals for a plan more defined strategic for the Hemisphere.
For example, the proposed Americas Act requires the United States to develop a coherent policy for Latin America. One of its key proposals is a “path to membership” in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
Some members of Congress have opposed efforts that would further open the U.S. market through free trade agreements.
Important suppliers
Other notable exporters to the United States in 2023 were: Peru (US$ 9 billion, 0% year-on-year), Ecuador (US$ 9 billion, -16%), Dominican Republic (US$ 7 billion, +2%) and Argentina (US $7 billion, -8%).
In particular, some members of Congress have expressed growing concern about LAC's sharp rise in economic ties with China, whose interests in the region can sometimes conflict with those of the United States.
At stake have been questions about lost export opportunities by the United States, as well as the possible implications of the region's growing economic interdependence with China, including as a result of China's financing and construction of strategic infrastructure projects through its One Belt, One Road initiative.
