Japanese trade with Brazil and Latin America declines.

BY LATINVEX STAFF

Just as Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto visits Japan to boost business, a new analysis from Latinvex shows that Mexico has replaced Panama as Japan’s second-largest trade partner in Latin America.

Whereas Japanese trade with Latin America and Brazil, its top partner in the region, declined last year, it grew with Mexico.

Peña Nieto met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday in Tokyo and the two agreed to boost bilateral relations. Mexico also supports Japan’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

“The goal we set as immediate is to expand access to our respective markets, and thus promote the growth of our economies,” Peña Nieto said after the meeting.

They agreed to hold the 8^th meeting of the Joint Committee for the Japan-Mexico Economic Partnership in Mexico City in the second half of this year.

“Mexico is a strategic global partner that shares (with Japan) fundamental values, such as rule of law and free trade,” Abe said. “We’d like to further deepen and expand the bilateral relationship.”

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Keywords in report: Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Venezuela
Keywords in table: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela

THE DATA

TABLE: Japan-Latin American Trade 2012