Lea Márquez Peterson
The Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce advocates at the local and national levels for increasing exports, the expansion of key transportation corridors and improving relationships between businesses in Arizona and Mexico. Per the United States trade representative, Mexico is the nation’s third-largest goods trading partner, with $531 billion in total (two-way) goods traded during 2015. Trade with Mexico is one of the largest growth opportunities for Arizona businesses.
Last week, I traveled to Washington, D.C., on behalf of our chamber to participate in meetings related to global trade. The U.S Global Leadership Council (in which I serve on the state council) held its national conference and hosted bipartisan congressional leaders who spoke about the importance of trade to our nation’s economy. The conference also included notable global corporations such as Walmart, Boeing and Amazon.
During the same week, I attended the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute’s U.S-Mexico Border Conference and was honored to hear Gov. Doug Ducey speak about the importance of trade with Mexico in Arizona. I received several positive comments from attendees about the potential national role he can play among our nation’s governors. The conference also focused on infrastructure investment needed along the border, access to capital challenges and the uncertainty that the NAFTA renegotiation has created for the business community.
The week concluded with my attendance at the #OneBorder Coalition meeting, which our chamber has proudly participated in, representing Arizona. The organization is comprised of 150 economic-development groups and chambers of commerce from the 10 states along the U.S-Mexico border. The meetings focused on our advocacy role with congressmen from key states such as Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. I had the opportunity to partner with the San Diego regional chamber director to provide input from our respective border states to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s trade representative as well as the U.S. trade representative’s Western Hemisphere director.
It was a busy week, but I felt that our chamber made a positive impact on the national debate surrounding trade agreements. In addition to our advocacy work, our chamber continues to host business-education courses in rural and urban communities on “Growing your business through exporting” and other related topics.
Our chamber does similar work in Mexico with a focus on doing business in Arizona. The chamber assisted more than 80 Mexican businesses interested in establishing or distributing products in Arizona in 2016. In addition, the chamber provides assistance to businesses in making key industry connections and building culturally competent relationships throughout the Arizona-Sonora mega-region.
Our chamber leadership believes that the largest untapped business opportunity is educating small businesses in Arizona on the value and “how to” of exporting to Mexico and beyond.
The Tucson Hispanic Chamber’s mission is to advocate for our members and provide services that help grow our members’ businesses.
International trade is of the highest priority. The border region of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas embrace a bilingual, bicultural population that is dependent on the flow of goods and services across our border with Mexico.
Learn more about our programs and services at www.TucsonHispanicChamber.org
