Provide chains, commerce prime agenda for Yellen Mexico journey

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will journey to Mexico Metropolis this week to strengthen financial ties with America’s prime buying and selling associate, the Treasury Division mentioned Monday.

Yellen will meet with Mexican counterparts, together with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, from Dec. 5-7 on creating provide chains spanning the bordering nations to spur job development and bolster financial safety, in response to a launch.

Imports and exports between the U.S. and Mexico reached almost $600 billion to date in 2023, per the Worldwide Commerce Administration, and exceeded $850 billion in 2022, in response to Treasury.

Direct investments between the nations embody manufacturing, wholesale commerce, actual property and finance and insurance coverage, in response to the U.S. Commerce Consultant.

Yellen’s journey corresponds with the Treasury’s launch of a Counter-Fentanyl Strike Drive, to fight illicit trafficking of the lethal drug into the US.

Final month, the division labored with its Mexican counterparts to sanction three Mexican people and 13 Mexican entities linked to the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), a prolific fentanyl trafficker.

The brand new strike drive will “permit us to convey the division’s unequalled experience in preventing monetary crime to bear in opposition to this lethal epidemic,” Yellen mentioned in a press release.

The group’s creation follows an settlement between President Joe Biden and Chinese language President Xi Jinping final month to collectively curb entry to the fentanyl precursor chemical compounds that Mexican cartels use to fabricate the drug, earlier than sending it north for distribution within the U.S.

“Treasury will use each instrument at its disposal to disrupt the power of drug traffickers to hawk this poison in our nation,” Yellen added.