Mexico captured almost one-fifth of the U.S. import market in July, well ahead of second-placed Canada, shipping a record US $60.55 billion worth of goods to its northern neighbor, according to official U.S. data.
Mexico’s share of the $332.92 billion U.S. import market in July was 18.2%, ahead of Canada (10.1%); China (8.1%); Vietnam (7.9%); and Taiwan (7.7%), according to data published last Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
In other words, nearly one in every five dollars the United States spent on imports in July was spent on products from Mexico.
Compared to a year earlier, Mexico’s share of the U.S. import market increased 2.7 percentage points in July.
The difference between Mexico and Canada’s shares of the U.S. import market in July 2025 was 4.5 percentage points. In July of this year, the difference was 8.1 points. Similarly, the difference between Mexico and China’s shares of the U.S. import market increased significantly, rising to 10.1 points in July from 6.5 points in the same month of last year.
The increase in Mexico’s share of the U.S. import market coincides with a boom in Mexican exports. The boom is largely driven by a sharp increase in the export of computer equipment, including AI servers, and other electronics to the U.S.
Mexico in Numbers: How Taiwanese imports are fueling Mexico’s record tech exports
While such products are helping to boost Mexico’s overall export revenue and share of the U.S. import market, their Mexican content is generally very low. That means that a significant share of the revenue Mexico receives from the export of tech products has already been spent on imported inputs, especially from Taiwan.
Mexico’s export revenue increased 33% annually in July
In July — for the first time in any month on record — Mexico’s revenue from selling goods to the United States exceeded $60 billion.
The year-over-year increase in revenue was 33.6% in July. The month-over-month increase was 9.6%.
Canada’s revenue from exports to the United States also increased on an annual basis in July, but only by 4%. Canada’s income declined on a month-over-month basis in July, falling 10%. Canada’s revenue from products shipped to the United States in July was $33.49 billion, equivalent to 55.3% of Mexico’s income in the same month.
China’s revenue from goods shipped to the United States in July was $27.07 billion, up 2.6% from the same month of last year.
Mexico’s exports to the United States reached a record level in July at a time when there was significant uncertainty in the bilateral trade relationship. On July 1, the U.S. government announced that it had declined to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the free trade pact that superseded NAFTA in 2020.
Despite that decision, the USMCA remains in effect, allowing most Mexican goods to enter the United States tariff-free and giving Mexico a significant comparative advantage over most of its competitors.
Mexico’s exports to the US increased 16% between January and July
The U.S. data also shows that the United States imported goods from Mexico worth $358.7 billion in the first seven months of 2026. That figure represents an increase of 16% compared to the same period of 2025.
Mexico’s share of the $2.08 trillion U.S. import market between January and July was 17.3%, up from 15% in the same period of last year.
Canada’s share of the U.S. import market remained virtually the same on a year-over-year basis, while China’s share fell almost two percentage points.
Canada’s income from goods shipped to the United States between January and July increased 1.8% to $233.66 billion. Its share of the U.S. import market was 11.24% in the first seven months of the year, an increase of just 0.08 percentage points compared to the same period of last year. Canada and the United States are currently engaged in a significant trade dispute.
China’s revenue from goods shipped to the United States between January and July was $156.39 billion, a 19.4% decrease compared to the same period of last year. Its share of the U.S. import market was 7.5%, down from 9.4% in the same period of last year. China and the United States are engaged in a long-running trade war.
Mexico is the top market for US exports
The U.S. data shows that the United States exported goods worth $34.24 billion to Mexico in July, an increase of 18.3% compared to the same month of 2025. In the first seven months of 2026, the United States’ revenue from goods exported to Mexico was $229.81 billion, a 16.8% year-over-year increase.
In July, and in the first seven months of 2026, Mexico was the top market for U.S. exports. In the first seven months of last year, Canada was the top foreign market for U.S. goods, just ahead of Mexico.
In the first seven months of 2026, U.S. exports generated total revenue of $1.43 trillion. Sixteen per cent of that revenue — or around one in every six dollars — was derived from goods sent to Mexico. After Mexico, the largest markets for U.S. exports between January and July were, in order, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and China.
Mexico’s trade surplus with US nears $130 billion
Mexico recorded a trade surplus of $26.31 billion with the United States in July. At the end of July, Mexico’s calendar trade surplus with the U.S. was $128.89 billion. At the end of July last year, it was $112.57 billion, 12.7% lower.
The only country that recorded a larger trade surplus with the United States than Mexico in the year to the end of July was Vietnam. The southeast Asian nation sent exports worth $149.61 billion to the United States in the first seven months of the year, while its outlay on imports from the U.S. was $10.75 billion. Vietnam thus recorded a trade surplus of $138.86 billion with the U.S. in the first seven months of the year.
Mexico’s large trade surplus with the United States has angered U.S. President Donald Trump, who takes the view that the U.S. is “losing money” if its imports from a certain country exceed its exports to the same country. On Friday, he threatened in a social media post to “STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT” if the U.S. Federal Reserve doesn’t lower its benchmark interest rate, which is currently set at 3.50%-3.75%.
Later on Friday, Trump asserted that Mexico has “nothing” the United States needs, apart from “hot tamales” and “tomatoes,” a claim that collides with the reality that the U.S. and Mexican economies are highly integrated and that Mexico ships huge quantities of goods to its northern neighbor on a daily basis. The data on Mexico’s exports to the U.S. in July and in the first seven months of the year — and that on the United States’ exports to Mexico in the same periods — provide clear evidence of that economic interdependence.
