Tucson mayor on trade with Mexico: 'We're only scratching the surface'

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - At more than $26 billion a year, Mexico is Arizona's largest trading partner - and it's not even close.

Located less than a hour from the international border, nobody's in better position to take advantage of that than Tucson. That's why Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild welcomed more than 330 visitors to the Tucson Convention Center on Friday, Jan. 22 for the second-annual Borderlands Trade Conference.

"Knowing how important northern Mexico, Sonora and Sinaloa is to southern Arizona, the idea (behind the conference) is of bringing us together as a bi-national mega-region," Rothschild said.

That includes mayors from six major cities in northern Mexico, including Manuel Ignacio Acosta Gutierrez, mayor of Hermosillo, Sonora.

"One of the more competitive cities in the world for investments and returns," he said. Speaking through a translator, he further explained why his city of more than a million people is so compatible with Tucson.

"We're on the right path. We need to have that conversation, continue the dialogue so we can again reinforce the benefits of Mexico and the benefits of Arizona," Acosta Gutierrez said.

That being a strong working relationship beyond just agriculture alone.

Aerospace, copper ore, computer processors and medicine have already changed the game between Mexico and Arizona.

Couple that with Mexico now showing more growth and more purchasing power than Canada, we begin to see why our neighbors to the south are such a valuable asset.

"Mexico has a growing middle class that is surprisingly larger than the entire population of Canada," said University of Arizona professor Bruce Wright, who went on to dispel yet another myth regarding American perceptions. "I really find this surprising given the current debate in the political arena, but more Americans over the last few years have moved into Mexico than Mexicans have come to the United States."

Speaking to the growing partnership between Arizona and northern Mexico, Rothschild highlighted a half dozen Mexican businesses that have moved to Tucson over the past two years.

"And we're looking at many more," he said.

That's in addition to sending more products to one of the fastest growing markets in the world today.

"As important, more important for us here in southern Arizona ... that there's a new, emerging middle-class market in Mexico where we can take our goods," Rothschild said. "So we're only scratching the surface of our real potential here."

Another factor that makes the Mexico market so attractive is what's happening in China today. Rising wages and concerns over quality control are pushing some longtime US manufacturers out of Asia.

Where are they going? Mexico, in many cases.

That's led to Mexico, once again, becoming a top location for US manufacturers.