Mexico exported 258,952 light vehicles in February 2025, a 9.2% decrease compared to the 285,330 units it shipped abroad in February 2024, amid trade tensions between the United States and Mexico that have roiled the auto industry this year.

In its monthly auto industry survey, national statistics agency INEGI noted that although February export figures were an improvement over the 219,414 vehicles Mexico exported in January 2025, the numbers represented a year-on-year decline for the third straight month.

In December 2024, Mexico’s auto exports dropped by 5.8% from a year earlier to 265,954 units and January 2025 saw a 13.7% decline in vehicle exports with just 219,414 vehicles shipped abroad. 

February’s shrinking numbers mean light-vehicle exports are down 11.4% through the first two months of 2025.

The three-month slump follows hard on the heels of a positive year for Mexico’s auto industry which set records for production and exports. 

For a fifth consecutive year in 2024, Mexico expanded its share of the U.S. import market. Automotive exports to the U.S. had a value of US $181.4 billion last year, and made up 38.5% of the U.S. market for automobiles, up from 37.8% in 2023.

Shifting trade policies hit auto sector’s performance, planning

While campaigning ahead of the U.S. presidential election last year, Donald Trump insisted he’d apply blanket 20% tariffs on all imports and, upon winning the vote in November, promised steep across-the-board tariff hikes. 

By December, at least one auto company was reportedly reconsidering its investment strategy in Mexico.

In January, vehicle exports to the U.S. — Mexico’s primary market, accounting for 83.6% of total vehicles exported that month  — fell 10.8%, with 183,321 vehicles shipped north of the border, down from 205,523 in January 2024.

Upon taking office on Jan. 20, Trump threatened, then paused tariffs on imports of all Mexican goods, then said he’d place a levy on all steel and aluminum imports. Last week, Trump again delayed applying tariffs to Mexican imports, while also granting a one-month tariff exemption to automakers importing vehicles from Mexico and Canada.

Tariff concerns prompt Honda to move Civic production from Mexico to US

The uncertainty has prompted auto companies across the industry to pause investment and reassess risk factors, forcing some to analyze the cost-benefit of moving Mexican operations to the U.S.

Positive domestic numbers slightly offset shrinking export figures, however.

Light-vehicle sales in Mexico in February reached 117,679 units, a 2.9% increase over February 2024. For the first two months of 2025, total domestic sales (237,659 units) are up 4.5%.

With reports from Expansión, El Economista and Time