La Jornada: Computers make up for the drop in car exports to the US

Mexican exports of computer equipment to the United States grew 61.13 percent in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period of the previous year, while shipments of motor vehicles – for years Mexico’s main export product to that market – accumulated a drop of 22.34 points in the same period, according to data from the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce of that country.

The rearrangement is largely due to the tariff structure that Donald Trump’s administration has imposed on Mexican imports. Motor vehicles face a 25 percent tariff under section 232, while data processing machines – classified under tariff heading 8471 – pay an effective rate of just 0.02 percent, given that 97.32 of those exports meet the regional content criteria established in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The result is that Chapter 84 – nuclear reactors, boilers, machines and mechanical devices, which includes computer equipment – ​​displaced the automotive sector as the main item of imports that the United States makes from Mexico, representing 29.97 percent of the total in March 2026, compared to 21.44 percent in Chapter 87, corresponding to vehicles.

According to data from the US authority, the value of imports from Mexico reached 51,203 million dollars in March, the highest figure recorded for the same month since records exist, which placed Mexico as the main supplier to the United States, above Canada, Taiwan and China (which fell from third to fourth place).

However, data from the Census Bureau add that the dynamism of computers does not necessarily reflect a strengthening of the Mexican industrial base.

Analysts have pointed out that there is evidence that Mexico operates mainly as an assembler in this computer production chain, given that it imports a high proportion of the inputs – mostly of Asian origin – and adds a relatively low value to the final product before exporting it to the United States.

The situation contrasts with the automotive industry, whose value chains are more integrated in Mexican territory and generate greater national content per exported unit.

Taiwan, Mexico’s main competitor in computer equipment, accounted for 40.81 percent of US imports of these products in March, compared to 30.49 percent for Mexico. According to official data, purchases of inputs from Taiwan grew 297 percent in annual terms, driven by demand for semiconductors and the reconfiguration of global supply chains.

In the first quarter of 2026, the trade deficit of the United States with our country totaled 44,761 million dollars, which represented 20.97 percent of the total US deficit, placing Mexico in third place, behind Taiwan and Vietnam.