Country profile · North America
Mexico
Mexico has 131.9 million people and the world's 15th-largest economy at $1.83 trillion (IMF, 2025). The United States made up 59.7% of its goods trade in 2025. Claudia Sheinbaum, its first woman president, took office on October 1, 2024. Drug cartels are the main threat to its security.
Where Mexico ranks
All rankings →Who runs Mexico?
President Claudia Sheinbaum of Morena runs Mexico. She won the election of June 2, 2024 with 59.76% of the vote, the largest margin since 1982. Mexican presidents serve a single six-year term and can never run again. Sheinbaum is a physicist. She did her doctoral research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and was a lead author of a chapter in the UN climate panel's 2014 report. Her parents come from Jewish families with roots in Lithuania and Bulgaria. Morena and its allies hold 364 of the 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, more than two thirds. Since August 2026 they have been one seat short of two thirds in the Senate. The midterm elections are on June 6, 2027.
- Morena 253
- Allies (PVEM, PT) 111
- Other parties 136
Portrait (2025): Embassy of Bangladesh in Mexico, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Who are Mexico's allies and rivals?
Mexico has no military allies. It left the Rio Treaty, a regional defense pact, in 2004. The United States is its main partner and the source of most of its tensions. In February 2025 the US named six Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations, and it added two more in July 2026. In January 2026 President Trump said the US would start hitting cartel targets on land. President Sheinbaum says US military action in Mexico is ruled out, and no US strike on Mexican soil has been confirmed. Mexico condemned the US capture of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026 and sent navy ships with aid to Cuba. Mexico has no territorial disputes.
Allies and partners
United StatesUSMCA partner, security cooperation since 2025
CanadaStrategic partnership signed September 2025- European UnionTrade agreement signed May 2026
SpainKing Felipe VI's June 2026 visit mended a rift
CubaMexican navy ships delivered aid in 2026
Tensions
- Sinaloa CartelTwo factions at war since September 2024
- Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG)Leader killed by the army, February 2026
EcuadorNo relations since April 2024 embassy raid
ChinaMexico raised tariffs on Chinese goods in 2026
- Culiacán The Sinaloa Cartel's two factions have fought each other here since September 2024.
- Tapalpa The army killed CJNG leader El Mencho here on February 22, 2026.
- Conchos River Mexico owes the US water from this river and others under a 1944 treaty. It delivered about half of what it owed in the cycle that ended in October 2025.
- Nuevo Laredo The busiest US-Mexico crossing. The US port of Laredo handled $353.94 billion of trade in 2025.
- Mexico
- Partner
Who does Mexico trade with?
Mexico exported $664.27 billion of goods in 2025 and imported $664.06 billion, a surplus of $209 million (INEGI, revised). It was Mexico's first annual surplus since 2020. Manufactured goods were 91.6% of exports, and oil only 3.2%. Computers became the largest export for the first time, at $85.4 billion, up 144.8%. China supplied 20.1% of imports. Since January 2026 Mexico has charged tariffs of 5% to 50% on 1,463 kinds of goods from countries without a trade deal with Mexico, mainly China. Foreign investment reached a record $40.871 billion in 2025. Pemex, the state oil company, pumped 1.635 million barrels a day of crude and condensate in 2025, down 7.1%.
Sells to
Share of Mexico's exports
- United States83.0%
- Canada3.3%
- China1.5%
Germany1.2%
South Korea0.9%
Buys from
Share of Mexico's imports
- United States37.6%
- China20.1%
Taiwan7.0%- South Korea3.2%
- Germany2.9%
Goods trade, 2025. Shares of Mexico's exports and imports from Banxico's revised data (September 2026); South Korea from Mexico's Economy Ministry.
How strong is Mexico's military?
The IISS counts 301,000 active troops. SIPRI estimates Mexico spent $13.6 billion on its military in 2025, only 0.7% of GDP, one of the lowest shares in the ranking. The armed forces' main job is at home. The National Guard, a police force staffed mostly by soldiers, was placed under the Defense Ministry in September 2024. Since June 2026 it has been one of the ministry's three forces, alongside the army and the air force. The army also runs the Maya Train, airports and the airline Mexicana. The navy has no submarines, and the air force has only three to five working F-5 fighters. INEGI counted 27,989 homicides in Mexico in 2025, down 16.6% from 2024.
Active troops in the Americas' largest armies, 2026
Full ranking →- United States1,340,150
Brazil374,500- Mexico301,000
Colombia285,000
Venezuela123,000
IISS, The Military Balance, 2024 to 2026 editions
How much does Mexico depend on the United States?
No country depends more on trade with the United States than Mexico. Mexico has been the largest US trading partner in goods since 2023, with $871.6 billion of trade in 2025. Their trade agreement, the USMCA, has been in force since July 2020. At its review on July 1, 2026 the US declined to renew it, and without an extension it expires on July 1, 2036. The US wants 50% of the value of cars made in North America to be US content, which Mexico rejects. Mexico's government says about 85% of its exports to the US enter without tariffs. Mexicans abroad sent home $61.79 billion in 2025, the first fall since 2013.
The US share of each country's goods trade, 2025
Full ranking →
Ireland
IMF International Trade in Goods (by partner country)