Mexico has surpassed Canada as the top market for U.S. exports, data show.

Commerce Department figures indicate that in 2025 the U.S. shipped $337.9 billion in goods to Mexico, or 15.5% of total American exports. That overtakes Canada, where U.S. exports totaled $336.5 billion or 15.4% of the total.

Mexico’s Business Coordinating Council, a top business group, said this marked the first time annually that more U.S. exports arrived in Mexico than Canada. The council added data indicate that Mexico is the leading destination for 25% of U.S. industrial sectors.

Officials in Ottawa have long boasted about Canada being America’s No. 1 export market, and used that piece of data when lobbying U.S. lawmakers, business leaders and regional chambers of commerce about the need for Washington to maintain favorable trade terms with Canada.

Canada’s economy has struggled with the sharp trade-policy shift orchestrated by President Trump, and government ties between Ottawa and Washington have deteriorated. Canada initially imposed retaliatory tariffs against U.S. products, but later dropped most of them in an effort to reset negotiations.

Mexico’s economy has avoided a worst-case scenario, and factory owners there ramped up production after escaping relatively unscathed following a series of Trump administration decisions. Moreover, Trump administration officials credit Mexico for taking a pragmatic approach on trade talks, while describing negotiations with Canada as challenging.

An analysis from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said Mexico has been, since 2020, the U.S.’s fastest-growing and most stable export destination. Over a 15-year period, the center said, U.S. exports to Mexico have now doubled. This “demonstrates how a wealthier Mexico, in many ways, has become a consumer market for American products,” the report said.

Statistics Canada’s merchandise trade data, also published Thursday, indicated that imports from the U.S. fell 6.2% in December from a year ago, while sales to the U.S. declined 5.7%. The Canadian data also indicate the country logged its narrowest goods-trade surplus with the U.S. in five years in 2025, with producers shifting exports to non-U. S. markets.

Source: msn