Trade between Mexico and T&T has grown 28 per cent year on year, according to the August 2014 issue of the Mexican Foreign Affairs Ministry magazine Protocolo."In 2013 trade between Mexico and T&T totalled US$366 million, around 28 per cent more than the previous year, driven by Mexico's natural gas, liquid ammonia and methanol purchases," Protocolo said. From Mexico, T&T imports minerals, refrigerators, prepared foods, iron and steel pipes, PVC, and more.
The 28 per cent increase between 2012 and 2013, however, comes on the heels of a decline from the US$286.3 million bilateral trade of 2011 when Mexico exported to T&T US$65.7 million and imported from T&T US$220.6 million. Up to May 2012 total trade was already at US$86.5 million, down from US$113.3 million during the same period the year prior.
Mexican exports to T&T grew from US$25.7 million to US$33.1 million during the same period. Mexican imports from T&T decreased in the first five months of 2012, from US$87.6 million to US$53.4 million.Trade between T&T and Mexico has always been going up and down. In 2008, it peaked when Mexico imported US$947.3 million from T&T. In 2001, it fell to as low as US$33.8 million.
T&T is Mexico's main trade partner in the Caribbean Community (Caricom). In 2011, total Mexican trade with Caricom was US$930.4 million, and T&T alone accounted for almost 30 per cent of that. In the geographic Caribbean, however, T&T is Mexico's third largest trading partner, after the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
Mexico is T&T's 11th largest trade partner by volume. First is the United States, second is Colombia, followed by the United Kingdom, Russia, Jamaica, Spain, Gabon (West Coast of Central Africa), China, Brazil and Barbados.Natural gas is not always T&T's top export to Mexico. In 2011, ammonia was T&T's top export to Mexico when this country exported US$111.5 million to the Aztec country. Second was iron, then methanol, urea, iron products. In sixth place was natural gas.