On the sidelines of the first U.S.-Mexico border trade conference held last week in Arizona, a group stared at a map of the United States. The 50 states were colored various shades of blue. The darker the state was, the more it exported to Mexico. As expected, California, Arizona and Texas were dark blue but so were Nebraska, Michigan and Wisconsin. The map showed what many on the border have known for awhile: Mexico is vital to the U.S. economy.

A buzz is developing around the strength of Mexico’s growing middle class and what it could mean for U.S. businesspeople and politicians in the border region. But there is also frustration that when it comes to Mexico, the United States — particularly lawmakers in Washington, D.C. — continue to focus almost exclusively on security, drugs and illegal immigration.

While these issues are real, so is Mexico’s economic success story. Here are five ways it impacts the United States that you probably didn’t know about.

1. Trade with Mexico sustains around six million jobs in the U.S. The Mexican economy is growing around 4 percent this year, more than twice as fast as the U.S. economy. This is why Mexicans are consuming U.S. goods at an increasing rate as they move into the middle class.

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