Mexico supplied the United States with a higher volume of goods than China in 2023, according to annual data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) published on Wednesday.
The U.S. imported about $427.2 billion worth of goods from China, whereas imports from Mexico reached around $475.6 billion, according to the data. Trade tensions between the U.S. and China persist as America continues to impose sanctions and tariffs while the two countries engage in a race to develop artificial intelligence technology. (RELATED: China Sanctions Firm That Helps Ensure Businesses Aren’t Profiting From Region Known For Slave Labor)
Get details about the U.S. trade deficit in goods and services for 2023 in our blog:https://t.co/TLI2qpxatg pic.twitter.com/ip6jZ3TNcG
— BEA News (@BEA_News) February 7, 2024
Imports from China significantly declined during 2023 while imports from Mexico experienced a small uptick, according to the data. The year marked the first instance of this Mexico surpassing China since 2002, according to The Associated Press.
“We are decoupling, and that’s weighing heavily on trade flows,” Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi told the The New York Times regarding the U.S. and China.
Former President Donald Trump put tariffs in place on China and President Joe Biden is keeping them and may increase some of them in an effort to seem tough on the country going into the 2024 election, Axios reported in January. Labor unions demanded Biden keep Trump’s existing tariffs in place.
The largest Chinese import declines in 2023 were technology, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, American Enterprise Institute China specialist Derek Scissors told the AP.
“I don’t see the U.S. being comfortable with a rebound in those areas in 2024 and 2025,” Scissors asserted.
The United States is competing with China in an artificial intelligence technology race and has imposed related sanctions on semiconductors. Biden’s Department of Commerce implemented its latest chip sanctions in October to prevent China from accessing the advanced technology, closing loopholes and decreasing the export of equipment needed to produce them, according to the rules it announced.
America’s trade deficit with Mexico in 2023 was about $152.4 billion, which was the highest ever recorded, according to the BEA.
The Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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