US hit its highest-ever trade total with any nation in 2024: $840B with Mexico

Port Laredo, Texas, top US trade gateway last year

Trade at the port of entry in Laredo, Texas, totaled $339 billion in 2024, compared to $320 billion in 2023. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Mexico was the top U.S. trade partner for the second consecutive year in 2024, totaling a record-breaking $840 billion.

It was the highest annual trade total any country had ever recorded with the U.S., according to Ken Roberts, founder and president of market research firm WorldCity.

“Mexico was the top U.S. trade partner for the second consecutive year – a first for Mexico – and topped $800 billion in U.S. trade, the most ever by any nation,” Roberts wrote in a column on Forbes.com.

Canada ranked No. 2 for trade with the U.S. in 2024 at $761 billion, and China ranked third at $582 billion.

Mexico’s exports to the U.S. totaled $506 billion last year, a 6% year-over-year increase, while imports from the U.S. to Mexico increased 3% to $334 billion.

For the month of December, Mexico was also the top U.S. trade partner at $63.8 billion, followed by Canada at $62.4 billion and China at $50.1 billion.

The port of entry in Laredo, Texas, was the No. 1-ranked U.S. trade gateway in 2024 among the nation’s 450 airports, seaports and border crossings, according to Census Bureau data analyzed by WorldCity.

Two-way trade at Port Laredo totaled $339 billion in 2024, compared to $320 billion in 2023.

The Port of Los Angeles ranked No. 2 at $333 billion last year, while Chicago O’Hare International Airport was No. 3 and reported $295 billion in trade. 

The top three exports from Mexico to the U.S. through Laredo in 2024 were auto parts ($26.6 billion), passenger vehicles ($16.6 billion) and computers ($13.4 billion).

Top imports from the U.S. to Mexico in 2024 were auto parts ($14 billion), gasoline ($3.8 billion) and electric storage batteries ($3.5 billion).

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Noi Mahoney

Noi Mahoney is a Texas-based journalist who covers cross-border trade, logistics and supply chains for FreightWaves. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English in 1998. Mahoney has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working for newspapers in Maryland and Texas. Contact nmahoney@freightwaves.com