New "Border Value" Platform Launches at Mexico’s Secretariat of Economy, Revealing the $2 Billion Daily Ecosystem of North American Co-Production
Developed by Datawheel with support from the Open Society Foundations, the new digital tool challenges the narrative of the border as a barrier, visualizing it instead as the engine of a shared industrial super-region.
via Mexico Economic Secretariat
MEXICO CITY & CAMBRIDGE, MA — September 10, 2025 — Yesterday, at a landmark event hosted at the Secretaría de Economía in Mexico City, government officials and trade experts unveiled Border Value (Valor de Frontera), a new open-access platform designed to map the deep industrial integration between Mexico and the United States.
While traditional trade data often views the border as a dividing line where goods simply change hands, Border Valuereveals a different reality: a single, integrated manufacturing ecosystem where components cross the border multiple times before becoming finished products.
"The Border is Not a Barrier" During the launch event on September 9, speakers highlighted the platform's mission to democratize access to economic intelligence. “The border is not a barrier; it is the center of a single integrated productive ecosystem,” stated Luis Godoy Rueda, Program Manager of Economic Complexity, during the presentation. “Every day, more than $2 billion in goods cross this line. Border Value was created to show that these aren't just exports, they are stories of co-production that are essential for the competitiveness of North America.”
Visualizing the "Co-Production" Economy Developed by Datawheel—the digital transformation agency known for the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC)—and supported by the Open Society Foundations, the platform integrates massive datasets to visualize supply chains in key sectors like automotive, electronics, and agriculture.
Unlike static reports, Border Value offers interactive tools that allow policymakers, investors, and researchers to:
Trace Shared Value Chains: See how a single automotive part might cross the border three or four times during production.
Quantify Interdependence: Understand precisely how U.S. manufacturing relies on Mexican inputs and vice-versa.
Support Strategic Planning: Align industrial policies (such as Plan México) with the reality of cross-border flows.
A Tool for a New Era of Industrial Policy The launch comes at a critical time as both nations seek to strengthen regional supply chains near-shoring initiatives. By making this high-level data a "public good," Border Value empowers smaller businesses and local governments to make evidence-based decisions that were previously possible only for large multinationals.
“We built Border Value to turn the complexity of bilateral trade into clarity,” said Alex Simoes, Co-Founder & CTO of Datawheel. “By visualizing the invisible threads that bind our economies, we are giving decision-makers the evidence they need to foster a more resilient and competitive North America.”
Availability The platform is now live and free to access for the public. Explore the tool at: bordervalue.com
About Datawheel Datawheel is a leader in digital transformation and data visualization. We partner with governments and international organizations to build custom software that democratizes access to complex data, empowering users to drive economic progress with science and AI.
