The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on international trade

Abstract

COVID-19 is one of the greatest events of the last century due to the effects it has generated and the way it has shown the vulnerability of the entire world to various situations; international trade has been severely hit due to restrictions imposed to control the disease.
During this article, the effects and behavior of the trade balance before and during this period will be analyzed, based on three different scenarios: Mexico, Latin America and the world, through the analysis of statistical data on the volume of exports, imports and international trade for know the level of the repercussions caused and understand the behavior of
nations in the face of this situation, analyze their strengths, weaknesses, degree of resilience and recovery,
through a double-entry comparative table that allows visualizing the differences and similarities of the three scenarios analyzed. 
The results obtained show that according to the WTO, during the second quarter of 2020 there was a 15.5% decrease in the volume of world trade, while Latin America registered a 9% drop in exports during 2020; Finally, INEGI reported that the
greatest effects caused in Mexico correspond to the month of May 2021, where a deficit in the trade balance of 3.902 million dollars was registered as a result of decreases of up to 50% in exports from the manufacturing sector.
As of the last period of 2020 and the first of 2021, a recovery began to be seen in most of the nations of the world, although the speed of this recovery depends on the internal situations and the relations of the countries opposite, so it is necessary have policies that allow supporting exports and reducing the vulnerability of foreign trade.