(Adds economist’s comment, background)
MEXICO CITY, April 27 (Reuters) – Mexico posted a larger-than-expected trade deficit in March, with a global shortage of chips hobbling the country’s vast automobile exports sector, data published by the national statistics agency INEGI showed on Tuesday.
Latin America’s second largest economy posted a $2.906 billion trade deficit last month when adjusted for seasonal swings. The deficit was $3.004 billion in non-seasonally adjusted terms.
“The weak performance of auto exports in February-March reflects to some extent supply chain disruptions caused by gas supply restrictions in parts of the U.S. and Mexico and scarcity of semiconductors,” Goldman Sachs economist Alberto Ramos said in a note.
Automakers including General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp have cut production this year due to a global semiconductor chip shortage. (Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Paul Simao)
