In April, Mexico reduced the gap with China in its share of total imports of products to the United States, from 14.2 and 15.3%, respectively, reported this Tuesday the Census Bureau.
That gap, of 1.1 percentage points, was the smallest after the distorting effects produced by the covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 in trade between these countries.
Compared to 2022, this superiority of China over Mexico was previously reduced as follows: January (6.3 percentage points), February (4.8 points) and March (2.4 points).
In absolute terms, Mexican exports to the United States They were 38,874 million dollars in April, a year-on-year increase of 20.9 percent.
In turn, Chinese sales to the US market totaled 41,772 million dollars, an advance of 11.7% per year.
Both nations are the main suppliers of products to the United States and face different challenges: China has forced to close factories and restrict operations in ports following its zero covid policywhile Mexico has been affected above all in its automotive sector by the shortage of semiconductor chips.
Canada ranked third as a supplier to the US market, with sales of 38,075 million dollars in April, a growth of 38.4%, much more dynamic than that of Mexico and China.
In fact, Canada occupied the first position among the main trading partners of the United States in April, with a coverage of 15.5% (considering imports and exports of goods), followed by Mexico (14.8%) and China (11.9 percent).
In particular, Canada has benefited from the high international prices of raw materials, which represent a substantial part of its exports to the world and, in particular, to the United States.
Cumulatively, in the first four months of the current year, Canada became the number one trading partner of the United States. (with a slice of 15% of the total trade), Mexico in second place (14.6%) and China in the third port (13.3 percent).
Considering only the participation in imports of products to the United States, China surpassed Mexico with a gap between 2.8 and 6.3 percentage points in 12 months of 2021 and between 5.3 and 7.1 points from January to December 2020.
In February and March 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, China’s share of US foreign purchases plummeted, with a market share of 12.8 and 10.2%, respectively.
Mexico immediately collapsed in that same indicator, with a share of 9.6 and 9.1% in total US imports in April and May, respectively.
April and May were also the worst months for Canada as a result of the pandemic, when its share of imports to its southern neighbor was only 9.1 and 9.7%, in that same order.
