Tariffs couldn’t stop Mexico from recording strong first-quarter growth in its earnings from exports sent to the United States.
In addition, in the first three months of 2025, Mexico was once again the world’s largest exporter to the United States, according to data published by the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday.
Mexico exported goods worth US $131.29 billion to the world’s largest economy in the first quarter, up 9.5% compared to the same period of 2024.
Mexico beat out Canada and China to retain its position as the top exporter to the United States. Canada’s earnings from exports sent to the U.S. increased 7.9% annually in the first quarter to $108.93 billion, while China’s revenue rose 5.1% to $102.65 billion.
Mexico’s share of the United States’ $948 billion market for imports in the first three months of the year was 13.8%.
Mexico, Canada and China all increased their earnings from exports sent to the United States in the first quarter of 2025 despite U.S. President Donald Trump imposing new tariffs on imports from those countries, and many others.
U.S. tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum, as well as other Mexican goods not covered by the USMCA free trade pact, were in force for most of March, having taken effect on March 12 and March 4, respectively.
Esta estrategia debe reconocer la importancia del tamaño del mercado estadounidense, pero debe construir una base de exportaciones de alta tecnología sustentada en la industria de componentes electrónicos que ya existe en el país. Necesitamos generar más energía, @LuzElena_GE, pic.twitter.com/DugfCSlqZZ
— México, ¿cómo vamos? (@MexicoComoVamos) May 6, 2025
U.S. tariffs on vehicles made in Mexico didn’t take effect until early April.
The publication of the United States’ export data comes eight days after Mexico’s national statistics agency INEGI released statistics showing that Mexico earned a total of $149.25 billion in export revenue in the first three months of 2025, a 4% increase compared to the first quarter of last year.
More than 80% of Mexico’s export revenue comes from goods shipped to the United States.
Mexico’s export earnings surge 15.4% in March
Despite the imposition of U.S. tariffs on Mexican steel, aluminum and goods not covered by the USMCA — as well as all Mexican products for a brief period in early March — the value of Mexico’s exports to the United States increased 15.4% annually in March to $47.98 billion.
Mexico’s strong growth in export revenue in March can be partially attributed to the fact that Holy Week fell in March last year, while the week leading up to Easter Sunday was in April in 2025. Consequently, there were more working days in March 2025 than in the same month last year.
Mexico’s growth in revenue from exports shipped to the United States in March was well above the 4.2% annual increase in earnings for Canada, which shipped goods worth $35.66 billion to its southern neighbor in the third month of the year.
In a sign that hefty U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods are hurting China, the value of the east Asian nation’s exports to the United States fell 1.9% annually to $29.38 billion in March.
Mexico’s trade surplus with US increased 19% in Q1
The Census Bureau data shows that the United States exported goods worth $84.04 billion to Mexico in the first three months of 2025, a 4.8% increase compared to the first quarter of last year.
Mexico thus had a trade surplus of $47.25 billion with its northern neighbor in the first quarter of 2025. Mexico’s surplus with the U.S. in the first three months of 2024 was $39.68 billion.
Mexico’s surplus thus increased 19.1% in the space of a year.
In 2024, the value of Mexican exports to the United States exceeded US $500 billion for the first time ever, and Mexico’s surplus with the U.S. increased 12.7% annually to $171.8 billion.
Trump has railed against the trade deficit the United States runs with Mexico, and has even suggested that Mexico should become a U.S. state due to the trade imbalance between the two countries.
The U.S. president has cited the United States’ trade deficits with Mexico and Canada as one of the reasons for imposing tariffs on imports from those countries, despite the three nations being signatories to the USMCA and having high levels of integration between their economies.
After a call with Trump last week, President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged that the United States is “very interested” in reducing its trade deficit with Mexico.
She said that she and the U.S. president “agreed to keep working” on ways in which the trade imbalance can be reduced by Mexico importing more goods from the United States.
“In other words, have even more trade … for the benefit of both countries,” said Sheinbaum, whose government is currently attempting to negotiate better trade conditions with the United States.
With reports from El Economista
