North America’s China Problem Is Bigger Than It Looks

Mexico is emerging as one of the biggest fronts in the US-China economic rivalry.

On one hand, Mexico is the US’s top trading partner and a strategic ally under the North American free trade treaty, or USMCA. Ask almost any Mexican and, despite old grievances, most would readily admit that their country’s future depends on deeper integration with its northern neighbor — for strategic, commercial, cultural and even historical reasons. Yet at the same time, China has quietly expanded its footprint in Latin America’s second-largest economy through investment and cheap imports in ways not fully understood by both policymakers and the public. The result: a more complex — and at times discordant — process of North American economic integration, with China emerging as a significant potential disruptor.