ARIZONA & MEXICO

INTRODUCTION
ARIZONA & MEXICO
share a long history of engagement on many levels, including
economic, civic, cultural and educational. At the state level,
multiple agencies including the Arizona-Mexico Commission,
the Arizona Commerce Authority, the Department of
Transportation and the Office of Tourism have long worked
with their state counterparts in Sonora and at the federal level
in Mexico City. More recently, the State of Arizona opened a
trade office in Mexico City, a joint effort with the City of
Phoenix, City of Tucson and the Maricopa Association of
Governments. This official-Level engagement builds on the
long history of collaboration between communities and
institutions along the 389-mile long border that Arizona shares
with Mexico.
Mexico has an increasingly prosperous middle class, an
educated workforce, and an economy nearly the same size as
that of South Korea. Yet news reports about undocumented
migration and violence from Mexico’s war on drug traffickers
mask the fact that Arizona’s economy is deeply interconnected
with its southern neighbor. Mexico is the state’s largest trade
partner with almost $17 billion worth of goods traded between
them. Addressing all of the ties between Arizona and Mexico is
beyond the scope of a single report. This background report
focuses on topics that underlie the economic and trade
relationships between Arizona and Mexico.
In this report, experts examine a wide range of topics,
including Mexico’s economy and its evolution over the
decades, the country’s trade footprint and what goods flow
through Arizona’s ports of entry. The report also covers Mexico’s
infrastructure, the manufacturing sector near the border, the
flow of fresh produce into Arizona and what Mexico’s sweeping
reform of its energy sector means for the electricity industry.
Finally, the report discusses the impact of Mexican tourism on
the state’s economy, the evolution of Mexico’s demographics
and cross-border engagement.
19 • ARIZONA & MEXICO • ARIZONA TOWN HALL • APRIL 2016