Position Paper: The
Importance of Latin America To U.S. International Trade
Summary
The primary thrust within MISER’s expanded international
trade data is to present detailed data on the subjects explored in this paper although
they are being explored in this paper only at aggregate levels. We think that the figures
in the document make an extremely strong case that the U.S. government and the private
sector in the U.S. need to focus on world exports in markets around the world. The
case as presented in Figures 1-6 has been made only with reference to export totals,
without regard to shipments by commodity classification.
Imagine what an exporter would do with data on world export
markets by detailed commodity classifications, like those underlying Figures 7A and B, in
this fastest growing part of the world. But Figures 7A and B show only the commodity
detail for the region. An exporter wanting to break into the Latin American market would
want to have data on commodity imports for each country in the region from each country in
the world. This is what we are working to produce in a partnership with INTAL, an
Argentinean research institute sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank. Together,
we shall be able to bring more data on imports (and exports) of the region to light for
U.S. exporters. Do we want to wait so long for such data that it won’t matter any
more when we finally get it—we’ll have already waited too long? We hope not.
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