Mexico's exports since 1993: almost thirteen times larger, still sold mostly to the USA
The first nine months of 2026 already add up to about 94% of the record set in 2025. Compared with 1993, the last year before NAFTA, exports are almost thirteen times higher in current dollars, and the share sold to the USA has hardly changed.
From January to September 2026, Mexico exported 627,194.2 million dollars of goods, 30.4% more than in the same months of 2025, according to timely figures INEGI published on 27 October 2026. Our sister site covers the month itself. This page sets the total against the long record.
Against the last full year
In all of 2025, Mexico exported 664.8 billion dollars, a record, according to INEGI's timely figures published in January 2026. The first nine months of 2026 already equal about 94% of that total. To pass 2025, Mexico needs about 37.6 billion dollars more, less than half of what it exported in September alone. The arithmetic is ours.
Against 1993
1993 was the last year before the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect, on 1 January 1994. That year, Mexico's merchandise exports totaled 51.9 billion dollars, and 82.7% went to the USA, according to the World Bank's WITS database. Exports in 2025 were almost thirteen times larger (664.8 divided by 51.9 is 12.8, our arithmetic). These are current dollars; adjusted for inflation, the increase is smaller.
Where the exports go has hardly changed. About 80% of Mexico's exports go to the USA, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service (August 2026). Over more than three decades, the value multiplied, while the share sold to one buyer stayed close to where it was.
↔ Swipe sideways to see the whole chart.
Billions of current dollars. 1993: World Bank WITS (51.9). 2025: INEGI timely figures (664.8). 2026: INEGI timely figures, January to September only (627.2).
Seen from the north
The U.S. Census Bureau counts the same trade from the other side as U.S. imports from Mexico: 39.9 billion dollars in 1993 and 534.3 billion in 2025. In 2023, according to the Census Bureau, Mexico became the USA's largest trading partner in goods and its largest source of imported goods, ahead of China and Canada. The two counts never match exactly, because they are taken at different borders, with different valuations and dates, so the chart above does not mix the U.S. figures with Mexico's.
Our sister site covers the composition of this year's jump. According to its calendar, INEGI publishes timely October figures on 27 November 2026; revised September figures, with product detail, come out earlier in November. The long series of U.S. goods trade with Mexico since 1985 is on our page Mexico and the North.
Sources
- INEGI, Balanza comercial de mercancías de México, timely figures for September 2026 (bulletin 638/26), 2026-10-27. Link
- INEGI, Balanza comercial de mercancías de México, timely figures for December 2025 (bulletin 30/26), 2026-01-27. Link
- World Bank, WITS, Mexico trade summary 1993, read 2026-10-29. Link
- U.S. Congressional Research Service, U.S.-Mexico Trade Relations (IF11175), 2026-08-13. Link
- U.S. Census Bureau, Trade in Goods with Mexico (c2010), read 2026-10-23. Link
- U.S. Census Bureau, Top Trading Partners, December 2023, 2024-02-07. Link
- Wikipedia, Economy of Mexico (context), read 2026-10-29. Link
The same release, as this week's numbers, on our sister site: rutanamex.com/blog/mexico-exports-september-2026.