Mexico is the United States' largest single trading partner, and the mix crossing north is dominated by deeply integrated North American manufacturing supply chains: motor vehicles and auto parts (engines, transmissions, wiring harnesses, and seats built for specific US assembly plants) lead by value, followed by computers, electrical machinery, and other electronics assembled or finished in Mexican maquiladoras. Agricultural and food products are the other major category — avocados, tomatoes, berries, and peppers make Mexico the US's top source of fresh produce imports — alongside beer, tequila, and medical devices. Most of this volume qualifies for United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) duty-free treatment because it either originates in Mexico outright or crosses the border multiple times as a partially-assembled good before final completion in the US.

Goods that meet United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) rules of origin — generally 60% regional value content by transaction value, or 50% by net cost, with stricter 75% RVC plus labor-value-content rules for passenger vehicles — clear at 0%, meaning duty-free, once the importer or exporter self-certifies origin using the required data elements (no prescribed CBP form is needed). Goods that don't meet that threshold fall back to the standard MFN (Column 1) rate for their HTS classification, which averages a few percent but varies widely by product. The one notable carve-out is Section 232: steel and aluminum products remain outside USMCA preference entirely and are dutiable at their Section 232 rate regardless of North American content or origin certification.

Yes, but not as a blanket surcharge the way Section 301 applies to China. Mexican-origin goods that fail to meet United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) origin rules — or ship without proper certification — default to standard MFN duty on their HTS classification, same as any non-preferential trading partner. Separately, Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum apply to Mexican-origin metal products at their published rate regardless of USMCA eligibility, since that program sits outside the trade agreement's coverage. Beyond those two mechanisms, US-Mexico trade policy has periodically included IEEPA-based tariff actions tied to border security and fentanyl enforcement, which can be imposed, adjusted, or paused on short notice by executive order — confirm the current status against the latest Federal Register notice before quoting a rate rather than assuming none applies.

Land-border freight carries structural costs that ocean or air shipments from other origins don't. Trucks can't legally cross the bridge with their original long-haul driver in most corridors, so a separate "drayage" driver and short-haul carrier fee is added just to pull the trailer across — often with additional idle time waiting in the border yard queue. Clearing customs also requires paying two brokers rather than one: a Mexican broker to file the Pedimento and export declaration, and a US broker to pre-file the ACE entry and bond before the truck arrives. On top of that, congestion at major land ports (Laredo, Otay Mesa, El Paso) creates unpredictable wait times that push up detention and per-diem charges, and any shipment flagged for secondary inspection adds further delay and cost before final release into the US.