Steve Alley, deputy senior commercial officer for the US Department of Commerce, speaks about the advantages of boosting trade to Mexico to a conference of exporters gathered at the Business Development Center on Friday.By the numbers* $3.8 billion – Value of Tennessee exports to Mexico in 2011, up 25 percent from the prior year* 16 – Percent of manufacturing jobs in Tennessee due to exports overall* 37 – Percent of U.S. content in Mexican exports shipped to the United States* 16 – Percent of manufacturing jobs in Tennessee due to exportsSource: U.S. Department of Commerce
American businesses looking for a growing economy to market their goods should look south of the border, a top U.S. export official said Friday.
Steve Alley, a Chattanooga native who serves as deputy senior commercial officer for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, told business leaders Friday that Mexico’s economy is growing nearly twice as fast as the United States and buys more U.S. exports than Brazil, India, China and Russia combined.
“Mexico doesn’t get the recognition that it should in terms of U.S. companies, but it is our second largest export market behind only Canada,” Alley told nearly 100 business exporters during a seminar at the Tennessee Small Business Development Center in Chattanooga. “I have never seen a market that is more open and dynamic than Mexico.”
Drug-spurred violence in Mexico may capture the headlines. But Alley said the murder rate in Mexico City is comparable with Los Angeles and Chicago and below U.S. cities like New Orleans and Detroit.