La Jornada: Record trade with the US in the first quarter

The value of trade between Mexico and the United States measured by the sum of imports and exports closed the first quarter at 231.3 billion dollars, an unprecedented figure for a similar period, according to official data from the neighboring country.

According to the Census Bureau of the United States Department of Commerce, between January and March Mexico accounted for 16.3 percent of the total trade of the world’s main economic power, a level never before recorded, consolidating itself as its largest trading partner.

Canada was left behind, with 175.9 billion dollars, equivalent to 12.4 percent of US trade, while China registered 88.3 billion dollars, just 6.2 percent of the total trade of the United States in the first three months, which was 1 trillion 419 billion dollars.

In 2025, Mexico participated with 15.6 percent of the total trade of the United States. Likewise, China continues to lose share, since in 2025 it closed at 7.4 percent.

Exports from Mexico to the United States, according to the neighboring country’s organization, reached 138 billion dollars, an increase of 5.1 percent compared to the same period last year.

Mexican imports from the United States reached 93,300 million dollars, which means that Mexico maintains a positive trade balance of 44,762 million dollars with its main trading partner, placing it as the third country with which the United States has the largest imbalance.

According to data from the Census Bureau, the country with which the United States has the largest trade deficit is Taiwan, with an amount of 52,878 million dollars; followed by Vietnam, with 51,667 million dollars. China fell to fourth place, with 33,493 million dollars.

As a result of the trade war between the world’s two largest economic powers, US imports from China have plummeted and represented only 7.46 percent of the total in the first quarter. If this trend continues, analysts say, in 2026 the Asian giant could drop to fifth place among the nations with which the United States has a trade deficit, something that has not happened since 1992, when it was ranked below Canada, Japan, Mexico and Germany.

Meanwhile, in March alone, the value of trade between Mexico and the United States amounted to 84 billion dollars, 16 percent of the 523 million that the neighboring country traded with the world in that month.

Likewise, in March Mexico ranked first among the nations from which Americans buy the most, with 51,203 million dollars, the largest amount imported from Mexico, equivalent to 16.94 percent of total US imports. In second place was Canada, with 11.28 percent; in third, Taiwan, with 8.14 percent, and China fell to fourth, with 6.9 percent.