According to mexicobusiness.news, bilateral trade between Mexico and the United States reached US$147.3 billion in the first two months of 2026 — a 6.8% increase year-on-year — as US global trade contracted 4.5% to US$895.5 billion. This growth coincides with deepening supply chain reconfiguration, driven by US policy shifts away from China and heightened friction with Canada.
Trade Shifts Across Key Partners
Mexico’s share of total US imports rose from 13.8% to 16.9%, while its share of aggregate US bilateral trade climbed from 14.7% to 16.4%. In contrast:
- US-Canada trade fell 14.4% to US$110.3 billion, with Canadian exports to the US dropping 21.5% to US$57.5 billion
- US-China trade plunged 39.9% to US$56.3 billion — the lowest January–February total since 2009 — as Chinese exports to the US fell 45.4% to US$40 billion
- Taiwan’s bilateral trade with the US surged 80.4% to US$51.8 billion, led by a 97.7% jump in US imports
- Vietnam (+41.3%) and South Korea (+11.7%) also gained ground, while Japan (−7.5%), Germany (−14%), and Switzerland (−51.6%) declined sharply
Mexico’s Evolving Trade Position
Mexican exports to the US rose 4.2% to US$86.8 billion, while US exports to Mexico increased 10.6% to US$60.5 billion. The US goods deficit with Mexico narrowed 8% to US$26.3 billion in the period — the first such decline since 2021 — though the annual 2025 deficit hit a record US$196.9 billion, up 14.6% year-on-year.
This structural imbalance persists despite rising utilization of the USMCA: preference claims jumped from 44.8% to 88.7% in 2025, reflecting strategic supply chain restructuring to secure tariff exemptions and preferential access. While Mexico faced some US tariff measures in 2025, it benefited from broader exemptions unavailable to China and other non-USMCA partners.
“The United States not only continues to have large trade deficits with Mexico and Canada, but those deficits have also increased since USMCA entered into force.” — US Trade Representative, 2026 Trade Policy Agenda
Practitioner Implications for Supply Chain Professionals
For global supply chain professionals, these figures signal accelerating nearshoring momentum: Mexico’s integration is no longer incremental but structural — evidenced by double-digit export growth, surging USMCA utilization, and widening tariff differentials versus non-members. Logistics planners must account for increased volume across key land border crossings (e.g., Laredo, Otay Mesa), where dwell times and cross-border documentation efficiency are now critical path items. Procurement teams are revising supplier qualification criteria to prioritize USMCA-compliant origin tracing and regional content thresholds. Meanwhile, risk managers are updating geopolitical exposure models to reflect Mexico’s dual role — both as a beneficiary of US-China decoupling and as a node facing new scrutiny over labor compliance, environmental standards, and customs enforcement under USMCA’s rapid-response mechanisms. The data confirms that nearshoring is shifting from contingency planning to core strategy — particularly for automotive, electronics, medical devices, and industrial equipment sectors with complex regional value chains.
Source: mexicobusiness.news
Compiled from international media by the SCI.AI editorial team.
