The Expiration of Mexico’s Transitional Regime against Chinese Imports: The Beginning of a New Trade Era - Global Trade and Customs Journal View The Expiration of Mexico’s Transitional Regime against Chinese Imports: The Beginning of a New Trade Era by - Global Trade and Customs Journal The Expiration of Mexico’s Transitional Regime against Chinese Imports: The Beginning of a New Trade Era 7 6

Chinese imports have always been a headache for Mexico. Just before China's accession to the WTO, Mexico had a trade deficit of 3.2 billion dollars with China. As of November of 2011, this trade deficit increased to 46.4 billion dollars. Whereas China has improved the quantity and diversity of exports to Mexico -rapidly becoming Mexico's second biggest supplier - Mexico has not taken advantage of one of the biggest markets in the world. In fact, Mexican exports to China have always been a relatively low portion of China's total imports. It is beyond the scope of this article to address why this has happened. Instead, this article will focus on the issues that will arise in the trade relationship between both countries in the near future, especially in the light of the expiration of Mexico's transitional regime that, until 11 December 2011, protected its economy from Chinese imports.

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