The total US trade with Latin America in 2014 reached $ 844,100 million of dollars, 2.5% more than in 2013, representing a new record. US sales to the region increased by 3.7 % in 2014 , reaching $ 408,199 million dollars, while exports from Latin America to US grew by 1.5 % and stood at $ 435,901 million of dollars.
This rise is largely due to increased trade with Mexico, which grew 5.5 % in 2014, with a figure of 534,484,000 dollars, the largest increase in Latin America since trade between Mexico and the US accounted for 63.3 % of total US trade with Latin America in 2014.
Bolivia led the growth rate both in trade (32.2 %) and exports to the US (50.3 %), while Ecuador led in the area of imports from the US with a growth of 14.3%.
Venezuelan trade with the US fell by $ 3,659 million of dollars (due to the decrease in exports of crude oil), while US trade with Costa Rica decreased 13.6 %. Chile, Colombia, Panama, Peru and Uruguay also saw a decrease in shares of trade with the US in 2014.
This has been excerpted from the 25 February 2015 issue of IntegrationPoint.com.