The automotive surplus of Mexico with the United States broke record in 2024, ascending to 137,813 million dollars, a 6% higher than 2023.
According to data from the Department of Commerce, in the bilateral exchange, Mexican exports grew 4.9% to 181,397 million dollars and US exports rose 1.5% to 43,584 million dollars.
Along with these results, the US president, Donald Trump, said Friday that he could impose tariffs on cars imports from April 2, the day after senior officials of his cabinet present a series of revisions and deliver Policies recommendations with possible tariff actions, as part of a presidential order.
In 2024, Mexico was located as the country with which the United States has its greatest commercial deficit in the automotive industry, although it was also the nation with whom the US economy was mostly integrated in terms of shared production.
The commercial balance in favor of Mexico with its northern neighbor that doubled in the last decade, from 63,473 million dollars in 2014 to 137,813 million dollars of 2024.
On the contrary, with respect to Canada, the United States registered a 7,139 million dollars surplus in that same relationship, with US exports of 63,835 million dollars and Canadian exports of 56,696 million dollars in its bilateral trade in the automotive sector in 2024.
According to the Department of Commerce, the average manufactured product from Mexico contains 40% of American content, and the average manufactured product from Canada contains 25% of American content.
Trump made the statement about automotive tariffs in response to a journalist’s question about when he could meet a previous threat of imposing tariffs on cars. “Maybe around April 2,” he replied, during a signing ceremony of an executive order in the Oval office.
The subsequent two largest deficits in the United States in automotive trade correspond to Asian countries, with large flows to the US market and with marginal shipments to that pair of nations.
In this regard, the United States had a deficit of 53,004 million dollars with Japan, by exporting products for 2,356 million and registering imports for 55,360 million.
With South Korea, its deficit was estimated at $ 46,807 million, with exports for 2,650 million and purchases for 49,457 million.
Tariff war
Since the beginning of his second term on January 20, Donald Trump has introduced additional customs tariffs of 10% on Chinese products and has assured that steel and aluminum entering the United States will soon be tax .
Last Thursday he also promised to impose on the commercial allies of the United States the same tariffs that they apply to American products.
Analysts have warned that the use of Trump of tariffs as a weapon for other countries to make concessions, from commerce to immigration or drug trafficking, could change world commercial standards.
Trump has signed executive orders authorizing the establishment of high tariffs if Mexico, Canada and China do not meet certain conditions linked to migration, drug trafficking (especially with fentanyl) and national security. After partial agreements, Trump gave his two neighboring countries a period of one month, but not to China, to whom an additional 10% tariff was applied as of Tuesday.
Brands, on alert
After President Trump raised the tone of his tariff ads, brand managers have expressed that they are able to lower their assembly in Mexico and Canada and increase it in the United States if the rates are completed.
“We have capacity in the United States to transfer some of that. We also sell trucks globally, so we can study the origin of international markets. There are things we can do to minimize the impact if tariffs are imposed on Canada or Mexico, ”said Mary Barra, president of General Motors to analysts on January 29.
“If high tariffs are imposed, we will have to be ready, and perhaps we can transfer the production of these models to another place,” said Makoto Uchida, general director of Nissan this Thursday, February 13.
However, brands continue to lobby for free trade. Last Thursday, Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC) said in a statement that Ford, GM and Stellantis have requested that vehicles and auto parts that meet the requirements of the T-MEC no They must be subject to additional tariffs proposed by Trump.
The brands before the tariffs
General Motors. On January 29, Mary Barra, president of the company, said that this has additional capacity in the United States to raise its local production in case tariffs are imposed on the cars exported from Mexico and Canada.
Nissan. This Thursday, February 13, Makoto Uchida, general director of the company, declared that, if high tariffs are imposed, “perhaps we can move production to another place.”
Ford. Jim Farley, general director, said on Wednesday, February 12 that the company is already considering areas where inventory can accumulate to prepare for potential 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada.
Stellantis. On November 22, two months before Trump’s swearing supply.
