US trade deficit with Mexico January-September 2026, Digi Mart USA News: The U.S. goods trade deficit with Mexico grew at a year-over-year rate of 26.1% from January through September 2026, reaching a record $184.019 billion, the Census Bureau reported on Wednesday.
The balance reflected a 20.7% increase in U.S. imports of Mexican products, to $481.586 billion, and a 17.6% rise in U.S.
exports of American products to Mexico, to $297.567 billion.
The Trump administration has said it is more concerned about the U.S. deficit with China than with Mexico, but has made lowering the overall U.S.
goods trade deficit with the world one of its trade priorities. The source notes that the administration has not made a specific criticism of the rapid growth in U.S.
purchases of computer equipment from Mexico, which contains a high share of Asian inputs, parts and components.
The deficit with Mexico was the second largest among U.S. trading partners in the first three quarters of the year, behind Vietnam at $190.928 billion, up 47.2%.
Deficits with Taiwan ($171.121 billion, up 81.3%), China ($131.492 billion, down 18.4%) and Thailand ($84.885 billion, up 74.7%) came next.
Broadly, the source attributes the U.S. goods trade deficit to low national saving relative to spending and investment, strong domestic consumption supported by the dollar’s role as a global reserve currency, industrial outsourcing, and high demand for consumer goods and foreign inputs.
Across all trading partners, the U.S. goods deficit from January to September 2026 was $919.726 billion, a 6% decline year over year, on exports of $1.85 trillion and imports of $2.77 trillion.
The article explains that the U.S. imports goods and services because some cannot be produced domestically in sufficient volume, because domestic production would be inefficient, or because foreign firms supply some products at lower cost or with greater efficiency.
It also notes that global value chains mean many imports contain foreign components, such as semiconductors, or raw materials, such as cotton.
Some policymakers view the large U.S. deficit with China as evidence of an unequal relationship, attributing it to trade barriers, state subsidies and discriminatory regulations.
The source also notes that certain Chinese products offer quality and low prices, and that the Trump administration has maintained an aggressive tariff policy toward the world with greater protectionism toward China.
In trade with China, U.S. exports totaled $83.517 billion while imports totaled $215.009 billion.
With Canada, U.S. imports were $304.565 billion and U.S.
exports were $265.874 billion. Taiwan was the third-largest supplier to the U.S.
market, with sales of $215.332 billion, followed by China and Vietnam at $204.826 billion.
