Has Mexican Trade in Manufactured Goods Reached Its Limits under nafta? Perspectives after 20 Years

Abstract

This article analyzes Mexican trade in manufactured goods at the subsector level for the period 1993-2013. The results show that underlying dynamic manufacturing exports is a high depen- dency on manufacturing imports, particularly of capital and intermediate goods and high tech- nology inputs. This has led to important deficits in the trade balance for important manufactur- ing sectors. In addition, although the Mexican economy has had trade surpluses with both Canada and the United States, it has shown increasing trade deficits vis-à-vis China, Japan, Ko- rea, and the European Union, particularly in the manufacturing sector.