b'36American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comNear or far: Latin American tradeLATIN AMERICA TRADEBy George Lauriat, AJOT TRI-ANNUALWhyhasnttradeinLatinChina and Canada, in no smallLatin American nation is a direct Americagrownfaster?Andpartbecauseofnearshoring.border.Whileasharedborder additionally,wheredoestheTheintegrationofMexican,comes with its own set of prob-UnitedStatesfitintothepro- USandCanadianmanufactur- lems, from a supply chain stand-cess?Thesearentnewques- ing,especiallyinautomaking,point it offers closer and potentially tions, simply questions that areunderscoresjusthoweffectivemore reliable logistics. rolled over like sovereign debtnearshoring can be for an econ- Andthereisthequestion tothenextadministrationoromy and as a strategy to diversifyof looking deeper into Mexicos generation to reframe. sourcing. It isnt surprising thatGDP growth numbers. Mexicos Back in November of 2023,at$48.4billion,autosarenoweconomicgainsof0.7%from the International Monetary FundMexicosbiggestexportitem.1980-2019whenmeasured (IMF) released an article entitledNow IT is looking into nearshor- againstsayChile3.0%GDP HowLatinAmericaCanUseing in Mexicoanother step upgrowthorSouthKorea5.3% TradetoBoostGrowththatin the value chain. And it isntGDP growth, Mexico looks to be began with the opening sentence,surprisingthatChinaslookingunderperforming. A The Federal Most countries in Latin Amer- at Mexico as a far-shoring optionReserve Bank of Dallas article in icaandtheCaribbeanarentand as an alternative for export- April,said,Lowproductivity fully harnessing the potential ofing into the US market. gains explain this gap. Mexicos international trade, an importantButisMexicosnearshor- economicgrowthhaslargely driverofgrowthforemerginging model exportable to otherbeendrivenbyanexpanding market economies. Latin Americancountriesoralabor force and, to a lesser extent, For Latin America capital- one-off? bycapitalinvestment,reflect-izing on trade opportunities is aing Mexicos long-time position multi-layeredchallenge,butasP roDucTiviTy asatoppartner.ButMexicos the IMF article suggests, trade isThe obvious difference between(TRADEcontinued on the driver of economic growth. Mexicosversionandanyotherpage 38) Wilson Sonss Rio Grande Container TerminalTradealsomeanshaving tradepartnersandtheUnited States,ChinaandEuropeare thelogicaltradingpartnersfor historical, economic and politi-cal reasons. But timing is also a featureininternationaltradingBuilt for relationshipsthatissomewhat undervalued. The ongoing trade war between the US and ChinaGrowing Business isprovidingLatin Americaan opportunitytotakeadvantage of a number of trade trends. And how long the window of oppor-tunity remains jarred open is dif-ficult to forecast.n eArshoring AnDv AriATions on TheT hemeIntheUS,andevenin118-ACREEurope, there is a growing move-ment to disengage from sourcingSHOVEL-READY BUSINESS PARKin China. The growth of manu-facturinginVietnamandother SoutheastAsiancountriesis largely attributable to this trend. China+1,China+2andother alternativesourcingstrategies are part of every retailers board- As the only deep-water seaport directly on the U.S.-Mexico border, room deliberations. And alterna-tivelyinChina,manufacturersthe Port of Brownsville is the ideal location for growing your business.are looking to shift their facili-ties overseas to both lower costsas Chinas wages are moving upward and labor getting tighterSUITED FOR MANUFACTURING & LOGISTICSwithpopulationshiftsand to lower exposure to tariffs and OSTOS RD.other geo-political tensions.In the US, particularly in the highlychargedelectionatmo- LOT 1 LOT 2sphere,thereisrhetoricthat18 LOTS AVAILABLE FOREIGN-TRADE ZONE #62 11.49 Ac 9.81 Acabounds promoting reshoring orALL UTILITES IN PLACE DESIGNATED SITE returning (or building) manufac-turing in the US. The CHIPS ActLOT 9 LOT 10 LOT 15is a federal government manifes- LOT 3 LOT 4 4.59 Ac 4.71 Ac 4.60 Actation of that trend. 4.82 Ac 3.48 AcStill, nearshoring or friend- LOT 11 LOT 12 LOT 16shoring is a practical alternativeDIRECT ACCESS TO CONNECTIVITY TO 3 4.71 Ac 4.71 Ac 4.76 Acto outright uprooting a sourcingUSMCA CORRIDOR CLASS 1 RAILROADSsystem.LOT 5 LOT 13 LOT 14 LOT 17Mexico via NAFTA and the5.82 Ac 4.65 Ac 4.65 Ac 4.71 AcsucceedingagreementUSMCA (UnitedStates-Mexico-Canada Agreement) had a head-start onLOT 6 LOT 7 LOT 8 LOT 18nearshoringevenbeforethe24/7 SECUREDDIRECT ACCESS TO8.74 Ac 6.16 Ac 6.05 Ac 7.35 Actermcameintouse.ABrook- FACILITIES OVERWEIGHT CORRIDORingsInstitutestudyarticleon theUSMCAinMarchnoted, Mexicohasbeenfortunateto be in the right place at the right time to leverage its own devel- 1000 Foust Rd. Brownsville, TX 78521opmentbytakingadvantageof(956) 831-4592bothUSMCAandnearshoring inadvancedmanufacturing.portofbrownsville.comIn2023Mexicoat$798bil-lionbecametheUnitedStates toptradepartnerovertaking'