Which US States trade the most with Mexico?
🇺🇸→🇲🇽 Here are the surprising US states profiting most from Mexico's economy. Read on 👇
Setting aside the multitude of reasons we’d argue Mexico is a perfect destination for a new investment or production facility, there’s clearly elements of both geography and complementarity at play. Decades of cross-border transactions have integrated the North American economy to such a degree that today each US state has its own fascinating trade connection with Mexico.
Don’t believe us? See for yourselves.
As we touched upon earlier, the automotive industry forms a key part of the great North American regional economy. This has been the case under both NAFTA and the subsequent United States—Mexico—Canada Agreement (USMCA), which was signed in 2018 but essentially modernized the existing agreement. The market for light and medium vehicles in North America was estimated in 2020 to be worth over $700B.
From auto-parts and related goods to finished vehicles, transportation equipment remains the largest two-way trading category between Mexico and many US border states across the Southwest and Midwest.
This list includes Texas, California, and (interestingly) Michigan, the former auto capital of the world and a border state on the other side of the country. Part of this continued vehicular dominance is in no small part due to a USMCA provision requiring automakers to source at least 75% of their car parts from North American sources.