Mexico. In the world, there are cases of revision and adjustment of trade openness and integration between blocs of countries. It even seems to be beginning to take shape a kind of economic disintegration that induces a balance of the benefits and gains of having an open economy.
One of the sectors in which a marked positive balance is identified in the exchange of goods abroad is that of Information and Communication Technologies in Mexico.
Although North America is in the process of renegotiating its Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), certainly the framework for the growth dynamics of our country is sensitive to a large extent to international (dis)equilibria. There ICTs have been characterized by their relevance in terms of their participation in the productive apparatus, as well as by their weight in foreign trade.
Mexico has an important position among the economies that market goods associated with ICT. According to information from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Mexico ranks eighth for the value of its exports, while in seventh place for the acquisition of these goods for domestic use.
With an import value of $63,898 million dollars (3.4% of the world total) and $60,360 million dollars for transactions held internationally (3.2% of the global total), Mexico registered a trade balance (exports minus imports) deficit of more than $3,500 million dollars in ICT goods during 2016.
The United States is the main recipient of Mexican ICT exports, with a ratio of 85.3% of the total, while the country receives from China (48.1%), the United States (11.3%) and Malaysia (10.9%) as a whole, 70.3% of the value of imports, figures that demonstrate the high susceptibility of the national economy to agreements and disagreements between partners as important as the United States and China.
One of Mexico's comparative advantages is its manufacturing and/or maquiladora vocation in the ICT sector, such that 32.1% of imports correspond to intermediate goods such as electronic components, while the value of exports of final goods such as consumer electronic equipment amounts to 33.8%.
This numeralia suggests that it would be desirable for Mexico to diversify its export destinations and the origin of its imports, but the realistic question lies in its feasibility. Undoubtedly, this would reduce dependence on economic and political cycles, especially those derived from the relationship with the United States. Likewise, a transition from a manufacturing and/or maquiladora country to one that takes advantage of the links in the productive chain that generate greater added value, for example, the development of innovations and disruptive products, must be chosen. But that has been the unaffordable link for more than six decades of our maquiladora history.
It must be recognized that these conditions, while necessary, are not sufficient for Mexico to be an even more relevant actor in cross-border trade in ICT goods.
It is still necessary to calm the tide of phenomena of economic disintegration and anachronistic nationalisms that impose barriers to international trade and put at risk not only Mexico's export and import potential, but the very basis of its growth, especially in high value-added sectors such as ICT.
Text written by Ernesto Piedras of The Competitive Intelligence Unit.
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