U.S. energy exports to Mexico outpacing import value

At a time when the United States is considering tariffs and renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. Energy Information Administration has found that, despite fears to the contrary, U.S. energy exports to Mexico have actually outpaced import values for three years running.

Information pulled from the U.S. Census Bureau found that the value of U.S. energy exports to Mexico have been growing, especially in volumes of petroleum and natural gas, while Mexican crude oil sales have continued to slump. This has been the standard since 2015, whereas only a year previously, Mexico’s crude oil exports had been the most valuable piece of bilateral energy trade.

In essence, this means there has been a sizeable shift in the relationship of trade.

U.S. energy exports to Mexico reached $25.8 billion in 2017, against $11.1 billion in imports from Mexico. While crude oil was still the greatest of imports–with Mexico being the source of 8 percent of U.S. imported crude oil–its value was only $9.8 billion in 2017. By contrast, the value of the petroleum products the U.S. sent to Mexico reached $23 billion in 2017 and represented 24 percent of all petroleum products exported from the U.S. Natural gas exports to Mexico make up half of U.S. natural gas exports at this point as well. The natural gas exporting capacity to Mexico could nearly double this year, to top it off.

In all, energy exports accounted for 10 percent of the value of what the United States has been sending to Mexico and 4 percent of what the United States has received in turn.