In 2023, Mexico became the world’s top exporter of goods to the United States, surpassing China.
Now it also the top buyer of U.S. goods, outpacing Canada, according to U.S. government data published on Wednesday.
In the first eight months of 2025, Mexico imported goods from the U.S. worth US $226.4 billion, according to data published by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Mexico’s outlay on U.S. goods in the period was 0.3% higher than Canada’s expenditure on imports from its southern neighbor. China ranked as the third largest importer of U.S. goods, with an outlay of $73.6 billion between January and August.
The El Economista newspaper reported that Mexico has previously ranked as the top buyer of U.S. goods in “isolated months,” but not over an extended period, as has been the case this year.
“This is the first time in history that Mexico is the largest export market for the United States,” the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), an umbrella organization of Mexican business groups, said in a statement.
Mexico’s outlay on U.S. goods increased 0.6% annually in the first eight months of the year, while Canada’s expenditure on such products declined 3.9%. A “Buy Canadian” movement emerged in response to tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on a range of Canadian goods.
The total value of U.S. exports in the first eight months of the year was $1.43 trillion pesos, meaning that 15.8% of the United States’ export revenue came from goods shipped to Mexico.
According to an infographic based on Census Bureau data that was shared to social media by Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Esteban Moctezuma, Mexico is the top export market for many U.S. industries, including meat and livestock processing; oil, gas and energy extraction; iron and steel manufacturing; and electrical and electronic equipment.
The CCE noted that Mexico is a large importer of U.S. cereals, electronics, steel and iron products, vehicles, machinery and fuel (including gasoline and natural gas).
México se acaba de convertir en el destino NÚMERO UNO de exportación de 🇺🇸#EUA.
De acuerdo con @uscensusbureau, por primera vez, somos su principal mercado de exportación.
Tan solo en agosto, 🇺🇸#EUA exportó 29 mil millones de dólares en bienes a 🇲🇽#México.
Este gran logro… pic.twitter.com/97ZBUVJJ2D
— Esteban Moctezuma Barragán (@emoctezumab) November 20, 2025
According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), the United States’ leading exports to Mexico are “electrical machinery, machinery, energy products, vehicles, and plastics, together with over $30 billion [annually] in agricultural products, including corn, pork and pork products, dairy products, and soybeans.”
The CCE said that Mexico is the “main export destination” for 24 U.S. sectors and the “second most important market” for 50 additional ones.
“In total, Mexico occupies the first or second position as a buyer in 75% of U.S. export industries,” the organization said.
The CCE also noted that Mexico was the first or second largest export market for 26 U.S. states in 2024. For Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, California and Oregon, it ranked No. 1.
Alfonso Muñoz, an economist at the Mexico City consulting firm CMM, told The New York Times that the publication of the data showing that Mexico is now a larger buyer of U.S. goods than Canada marks an “inflection point.”
“There is a very high complementarity between the economies of Mexico and the United States,” he said.
According to the Times, Muñoz also said that “the trend was expected to hold as long as there were no major economic crises or interruptions to the current trade agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada.”
The USMCA free trade pact, which replaced NAFTA in 2020, is scheduled for review in 2026.
Mexico’s exports to US increase 6%
The latest U.S. Census Bureau data also showed that the United States imported goods from Mexico worth $354.89 billion between January and August, a 6.1% increase compared to the same period of 2024.
Mexico captured 24% of US import market that China lost between 2018-2024
Mexico — which sends around 80% of its exports to its northern neighbor — thus retained its position as the the world’s top exporter to the United States, ahead of Canada and China.
According to the USTR, Mexico’s leading exports to the United States are “vehicles, machinery, electrical machinery, and medical devices, together with over $48 billion [annually] in agricultural products, including fresh vegetables, beer, distilled spirits, and fresh fruit.”
Most Mexican goods can enter the U.S. tariff free, despite Trump imposing duties on certain Mexican products this year, including steel, aluminum and vehicles.
In contrast, many Chinese goods are subject to very high tariffs when entering the U.S. Canadian products that don’t comply with the USMCA face a 35% duty when entering the U.S., 10 points higher than that imposed on Mexican goods not covered by the free trade pact.
The value of both Canadian and Chinese exports to the U.S. declined in annual terms in the first eight months of the year.
Mexico and the US are each other’s largest trade partner
Two-way trade between Mexico and the United States was worth $581.3 billion between January and August, a 3.9% increase compared to the same period of 2024.
Mexico had a trade surplus with the U.S. of $128.4 billion in the period.
Two-way trade between the United States and Canada fell 4.5% between January and August to $485.4 billion.
Trade between the U.S. and China also declined, plummeting 21.5% to $292.6 billion. Canada is the United States’ second largest trade partner, while China ranks third.
U.S. Census Bureau data also shows that the United States’ trade with Mexico accounts for around 15.5% of the world’s largest economy’s total trade with all nations globally. That figure underscores the immense significance the North American neighbors are of to each other.
The economies of the two countries have become highly integrated in the three decades since NAFTA took effect. The integration is now so great that Mexico and the United States are said to be part of a “co-production system,” in which they provide essential inputs to each other that allow final goods to be produced in various industries, including the automotive, electronics and aerospace sectors.
With reports from El Economista, El Universal and The New York Times
