Mexico

As of 1990, Mexico had 239,235 kilometers of roads, of which 47,504 kilometers were classified as main roads, 61,108 kilometers as secondary roads, and 130,623 kilometers as by-roads (Hunter, 1993, p. 953). These roads were used by the drivers of 6,754,096 passenger automobiles (of which 6,439,620 were privately owned), 4,892,848 trucks, 94,004 buses, and 231,503 motorcycles (Hunter, 1993, p. 953). The only common rail carrier in Mexico, National Railways, operated in 1991 over 20,216 kilometers of standard gauge track and 90 kilometers of narrow gauge track (Hunter, 1993, p. 953). The National Railways carried 53.9 million tons of freight and 15 million passengers in 1991.

Countertrade is a generic term referring to trade involving an element of reciprocity (Economic Intelligence Unit, 1985, p. 7). Barter is the oldest and most elementary form of countertrade. The net effect of multinational countertrade transactions is that a sale by an external entity to an entity located within a country imposing countertrade rules is contingent on some sort of offset by the selling entity--a purchase from within the target economy, an investment within the target economy, or some other form of reciprocal activity. A wide variety of terms are used to designate countertrade procedures and arrangements. In many instances, however, a term designating countertrade may not describe a separate form of the procedure. Rather, the term may actually describe a variation of one of the major forms of countertrade.

Six major forms of countertrade are widely recognized--barter, compensation (also known as clearing), buy-back, offset, counterpurchase, and switch. In 1994, Mexico has no significant countertrade agreements in effect (Banco Nacional de Mexico, 1994, pp. 21-25). Mexico's major export trading partner is the United States --61 percent of Mexico's total exports go to the United States (Banco Nacional de Mexico, 1994, pp. 40-44). The country's major import trading partner is also the United States--64 percent of Mexico's total imports come from the United States (Banco Nacional de Mexico, 1994, pp. 40-44).

For the United States, exports to Mexico account for only 1.9 percent of total American exports, and imports from Mexico account for only 1.9 percent of all imports to the United States. A summary of Mexico-United States bilateral trade is presented in Table 2, which may be found on the following page.

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