That portion is equivalent to US$632.29 billion and reflects Mexico's first position among the main exporters to the United States and second place among the largest destinations for U.S. foreign sales.

Mexico reached a record 15.9% share of total international trade in U.S. products in the period from January to September 2024, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday.

That portion is equivalent to US$632.29 billion and reflects Mexico's first position among the main exporters to the United States and second place among the largest destinations for U.S. foreign sales, although increasingly closer to Canada, which is the leading destination market.

In the first three quarters of the year, Mexican exports to its northern neighbor totaled US$378.885 billion, an interannual increase of 6.5 percent.

Conversely, U.S. exports to Mexico totaled US$253.405 billion, 4.2% more than the previous year.

In contrast, Canada and China, the United States' other two largest trading partners, lost market share in both exports and imports.

The three North American countries have strong cultural and economic ties, making the United States, Mexico and Canada each other's strongest trading partners.

A U.S. Senate report highlights that the U.S.-Mexico border region has become a major manufacturing hub, as manufacturers from both countries work together to produce goods and engage in shared production.

"Many intermediate inputs are produced in the United States and exported to Mexico, and finished products, such as cars and auto parts, computers and electronics, and household appliances, are then imported back to the U.S.," he gives as an example.

The report also notes that the United States is the leading supplier of intermediate goods to Mexico, energy markets between the United States and Canada are highly integrated, and the three countries have a deeply integrated market for automobile manufacturing.

From January to September 2024, Mexico (15.9%) and Canada (14.4%) accounted for nearly one-third (30.3%) of total U.S. merchandise trade with the world. China's share was 10.8 percent.

Notably, Mexico surpassed China to become the largest trading partner of the United States in early 2023. It was the first time in 20 years that the United States purchased more goods from Mexico than from China. After Mexico, Canada was the second largest trading partner.

U.S. goods exports rose 5.2 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of this year to $2.42 trillion, while imports from around the world rose 2.7 percent to $1.55 trillion.

Canada recorded annual declines in both areas: its exports fell 1.1% to US$309.337 billion, and its imports fell 1.7% to US$263.538 billion.

China, for its part, had a mixed performance, also in those same trade flows with the United States: its exports grew 2.0%, to US$ 322,172 million; but its imports fell 1.2%, to US$ 104,708 million.

These results were announced on the day of the presidential elections in the United States, in which Donald Trump, of the Republican Party, and Kamala Harris, of the Democratic Party, face a close race, after highlighting in their campaigns issues such as international trade, migration, drugs and the economy, among others.