Trade Center a Good Deal for All

The nation’s first trade center with Mexico that opened in downtown Santa Ana on Thursday is much more than some symbolic act of political neighborliness between Mexican President Vicente Fox, who was determined to open a trade center in the United States early in his administration, and Santa Ana officials, who were determined to host it.

The center also will open wider the door of trading between small and mid-size businesses in Mexico and California. That is particularly so in Orange County, whose largest trading partner is Mexico.

The importance of the International Business Center was evident in Fox’s attendance at its opening.

Encouraging small business and economic development for Mexico were important parts of Fox’s recent presidential campaign. And for nearly three years, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido and city officials have been courting Mexico and other nations to locate in the international trade office.

The center eventually is expected to house representatives from all of Mexico’s 32 states, along with those from U.S. businesses and service agencies for foreign trade. Its opening could influence other countries now conducting talks with Santa Ana to send representatives.

The most recent figures show that six Southern California counties export almost $6 billion in goods each year to Mexico.

Orange County, with the world’s 33rd-largest economy, accounts for almost one-third of that total. Pulido believes that in the next four years the county can double that total.

The new trade center is expected to provide hundreds of businesses on both sides of the border the contacts and financial and legal services needed to spur more trading.

It could increase Orange County’s foreign trade beyond the more than $9 billion in goods and services now being exported worldwide each year.

If it can do that, the subsidy of almost $600,000 Santa Ana city government has allocated over the next three years and the low office rents being offered tenants could prove to be a solid investment for the business community in Santa Ana and, indeed, for all of Orange County.