Mexico tops Canada and China as top US trading partner for 2023
Full-year 2023 trade data put U.S.-Mexico trade at $798 billion, with Laredo, Texas, ranking as the nation's busiest trade gateway for the first time.
In February 2024, full-year trade figures confirmed that Mexico was the top overall U.S. trading partner for 2023. It was only the second time in recent history that Mexico finished a year in the No. 1 spot.
Two-way trade between the U.S. and Mexico rose 2.5% to $798 billion in 2023, FreightWaves reported on Feb. 12. U.S. exports of gasoline and other fuels and imports of passenger vehicles helped lift the total.
How the top three compared
Canada ranked second, with two-way trade falling 2.37% to $773.94 billion. China was third, with trade down 16.73% to $575.03 billion.
The only previous year Mexico led was 2019. Canada was the top U.S. trading partner from the 1970s through 2014, China held the spot from 2015 through 2018, and Canada regained it in 2021 and 2022.
Mexico ranked No. 1 in 10 of the 12 months of 2023. Canada was first in December, at $61.1 billion, ahead of Mexico at $60.4 billion.
Laredo leads all gateways
The port of entry at Laredo, Texas, was the No. 1 U.S. international trade gateway for 2023, handling $320 billion. It was the first time Laredo ranked first for a full year. Most of that commerce, $312 billion, was trade with Mexico.
Luis Torres, a senior business economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, wrote that Mexico's expanding manufacturing base had offered an alternative to producing in China.
The leading U.S. imports from Mexico were passenger vehicles at $44.7 billion, auto parts at $34.9 billion and computer chips at $12 billion, according to Census Bureau data analyzed by WorldCity. The top U.S. export to Mexico was gasoline and other fuels, at $36 billion.
What it meant for carriers
More than 7.35 million cargo trucks crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2023, and more than 6 million tractor-trailers crossed the U.S.-Canada border.
Laredo was the busiest U.S. border crossing for trucks, with 2.93 million tractor-trailers. Otay Mesa, California, ranked second with more than 1 million truck crossings, followed by the Ysleta-Zaragoza International Bridge in El Paso, Texas, with 640,667.
On the northern border, the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit handled 1.56 million cargo trucks. The Peace Bridge in Buffalo, New York, handled 892,838, and the Blue Water Bridge between Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario, handled 782,260.