Mexico is now the world’s top buyer of U.S. goods, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. government, surpassing Canada for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The data highlighted how Mexico and the United States, despite periodic political tensions, have become deeply intertwined in business and how much the makeup of global trade has changed in a short period. Just two years ago, Mexico became the largest seller of goods to the United States, surpassing China.
“Mexico is the United States’ main trading partner,” said Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s economy secretary, referring to their trade relationship, during Wednesday’s daily presidential press briefing.
The data, released Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department, also showed how President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs impacted global trade in August, when the taxes on exports from some 90 countries took effect.
Canada had been the largest buyer of U.S. goods for decades, but it has been slowly losing ground to Mexico over the years and has maintained a much more combative economic relationship with Trump since the start of his second term. While the Trump administration has imposed high tariffs on some Canadian exports, Trump has repeatedly created exemptions for Mexico after negotiating with its mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum, and her representatives.
From January to August, according to new data, the United States exported $1.4 trillion worth of goods, of which $225.6 billion went to Canada and $226.4 billion to Mexico. (In 2024, the United States exported $349.4 billion to Canada and $334 billion to Mexico.)
“Today is the turning point,” said Alfonso Muñoz, an economist at De la Calle Madrazo Mancera, an economic consultancy in Mexico City. “There is a very high degree of complementarity between the Mexican and U.S. economies.”
The trend was expected to continue unless there were major economic crises or disruptions to the current trade agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, Muñoz said.
Thanks to the free trade agreements signed since 1994, the economies and supply chains of the three North American giants have gradually become more interdependent. But over the decades, Canada’s share of U.S. exports has slowly declined, while Mexico’s has increased.
Mexico and the United States share what is considered the busiest land border in the world. As Mexico has grown, especially its middle class, the country of more than 130 million people has had a greater demand for U.S. products, Muñoz said.
The sectors in which Mexico has purchased more U.S. products over the years, according to Muñoz’s analysis, include meat; grains such as corn, for both human and animal consumption; Fuel, which has helped Mexico with its difficulties refining its own crude oil, and iron and steel.
The tariffs have affected Mexico’s economy—which was expected to grow modestly, by only 1 percent this year—but have had less of an impact than initially anticipated, Muñoz said.
“Even with political noise or trade confrontation, Mexico remains the top supplier and has now become the top buyer,” he said, citing proximity, logistics infrastructure, labor costs, and Mexico’s increasingly skilled workforce as significant factors.
Mexico’s main exports to the United States are automobiles, machinery, electronics, medical devices, fruits, and vegetables. So far this year, U.S. data shows that its imports from Mexico have reached $354.9 billion—more than in the same period of 2014—followed by those from Canada and China.
Sheinbaum has spearheaded a plan to grow and diversify the Mexican economy. Economy Secretary Ebrard boasted on Wednesday of a record-breaking $41 billion in foreign direct investment for the last quarter of this year.
“Regarding foreign investment, the number one source is also the United States,” he said. “So, I see that the international community and the market are very much in favor of our country, and that trend is going to solidify. Now the challenge is to put our domestic investment on the same track.”
James Wagner covers Latin America, including sports, and is based in Mexico City. He is a Nicaraguan-American from the Washington area and his native language is Spanish.
Source: nytimes
