Without the negative swing in Mexican trade, the overall deficit would have narrowed, economists said.

In Texas, farm exports and Mexican trade quickened before the jump in oil prices, leaving unemployment just one-tenth of 1 percent higher than New York's.

Intelligence analysts rank him as one of five or six patrones, or bosses, of the Mexican trade.

In fact, from 1991 to 2005 Mexican trade increased fivefold.

Mexicans have long been nervous about closer ties and stronger competition with the United States, which already shares more than two-thirds of all Mexican trade.

The long-term trend in Mexican trade has been for the United States' deficit to shrink slowly.

The Texas economy directly benefits from Mexican trade.

The enthusiasm here for the trade agreement is palpable, not just among political and commercial leaders but also among many workers, whose jobs are already tied to Mexican trade.

With the fur trade ended and the Mexican trade curtailed, the Tumpanawach found it difficult to live from their traditional resources.

Department officials say that many who lost their jobs to Mexican trade are retrained under broader, older programs.