China is a greater economic powerhouse than Mexico. Look at the differences in infrasture, transportation, communication, education.
I thought of another advantage to learning Mandarin yesterday: on the college application, it will make you stand out. Anything to be different sure helps these days.
I think learning Spanish is also a great idea, because any language you speak gives you the power to connect to more people. Last summer, my kids bought software to learn Swahili.
I hope you’re right about the US continuing to be the economic powerhouse. We need to pay down the national debt and the trade deficit to stay in that position. Our spot as the world’s largest debtor nation is worrisome, and could cause us to lose our premier spot. If foreigners were not lending us billions of dollars every day, our interest rates would be much higher.