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The $13 billion Mexico City International Airport project, officially named the Benito Ju谩rez International Airport, was controversially brought to an end in the middle of construction.

Throughout his campaign, Mexican President-elect Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador said he would cancel the airport project and aimed to replace it with a smaller project.

The project was slated for completion in 2022, and was set to include two more terminals, two more satellite buildings and six runways.

鈥淗e kind of backed himself into a wall,鈥� Marco L贸pez, Intermestic Partners founder and CEO, said. 鈥淥nce he was elected, a lot of the folks who voted for him were seeking some clarification as to if indeed he was going to cancel the project or not.鈥�

The ambitious project was nixed after he held a referendum and voters decided to favor the president-elect鈥檚 intent. The referendum allowed the voters to be responsible for the cancelation rather than the president-elect.

The peso fell to about 20.02 on the dollar once the decision was made after the referendum.

The other proposed option is to add additional runways to an old military installation although the original project was 鈥渕ore than 30% complete and has secured financing for close to USD $8.7 billion of its total USD $14.6 billion budget from international investors and institutions,鈥� L贸pez said in a blog post.

However, he said no thorough planning has been conducted and 鈥渃ivil engineers and experts have said that you can鈥檛 have simultaneous operations in this new scheme of this old airbase and the current Mexico City airport because the airports are parallel to one another, so planes could basically run into one another because they鈥檙e on the same parallel.鈥�

Although a majority of the voters chose to scrap the original project, the project could have strengthened Mexico鈥檚 trade relationships.

According to , the Benito Ju谩rez International Airport is the second busiest airport in Latin America by passenger numbers.

It is also the third busiest by cargo traffic.

Enhancing an airport can improve its trade abilities and economic growth.

According to , Mexico is Arizona鈥檚 top trading partner as it accounts for about 30 percent 鈥渙f all Arizona鈥檚 exports to foreign markets.鈥�

In September, Arizona had more than $590 million worth of exports to Mexico and more than $600 million worth of imports.

Lopez explained that Arizona is a hub for cargo imports and exports with Mexico, specifically the at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.

鈥淲hat sets us apart in Arizona is our ability to attract, consolidate and ship goods from our space to Mexico via Mesa, via the infrastructure at our Gateway Airport project,鈥� L贸pez said.

A 鈥渕odern, more capable鈥� cargo facility in the new airport would have benefited Arizona in attracting, consolidating and shipping goods, according to L贸pez.

He said, 鈥渢hat ease of being able to ship right into that market just becomes a little more complicated because now you have to look for airports in and around there that can accommodate cargo airplanes.鈥�