Mexico’s trade surplus with the US jumped 26% in the first nine months of 2026, reaching a record US $184 billion

The U.S. trade deficit with Mexico grew at an annual rate of 26.1% during the first three-quarters of the year, reaching a record US $184.019 billion, according to U.S. Census Bureau data cited by El Economista. The balance resulted from a 20.7% increase in U.S. imports of Mexican products compared to the first nine months of 2025, coming in at nearly US $481.6 billion, well above the nearly US $297.6 billion in U.S. exports to Mexico, a 17.6% year-on-year increase. A U.S. Census Bureau chart shows how in each of the first nine months of this year the United States has bought more from Mexico than Mexico from the U.S., creating a cumulative surplus for Mexico — and deficit for the United States — of just over US $184 billion. Mexico’s exports to the U.S. in September (US $62.2 billion) were also a record and mark the third consecutive month that the value of goods shipped from Mexico to the U.S. surpassed US $60 billion. Mexico accounted for the largest U.S. goods trade deficit in September (US $28.15 billion, a 40% annual increase) and set a new monthly record, although the nine-month trade deficit with Mexico was the second largest for the United States behind only Vietnam (US $190.9 billion). While the current U.S. administration has declared that one of its priorities is to reduce its trade deficit with the world (especially China), its trade deficit with Mexico has soared due to elevated purchases of computer equipment. Meanwhile, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reported this week that Mexican foreign trade increased 24.6% in the first half of the year, while also citing the expansion of manufacturing acquisitions by the United States, primarily information processing equipment, servers and electronic components for the construction of data centers and Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure. U.S. demand for AI-related goods was so significant that it explains Mexico’s entire boom in 2025 and between 75-80% of that recorded thus far in 2026, the IDB said. Mexico’s performance is part of a regional trend as exports of goods from Latin America and the Caribbean grew above the world average in the first half of 2026, with Mexico leading the way. According to the IDB, exports from the region rose 19.5% year-on-year from January through June, above the 14.5% increase in global trade, primarily due to increased sales of AI infrastructure equipment in the United States. The IDB noted that Mexico accounts for 93% of regional exports of data processing equipment, servers and electronic components for the construction of data centers and was responsible for 96% of its rebound last year. With reports from El Economista and La Jornada