China is shipping more goods to the US via Mexico, circumventing steep tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and retained by Joe Biden’s White House, according to a Financial Times analysis of trade data.Figures from Container Trades Statistics, analysed by Xeneta, show the number of 20ft containers shipped from China to Mexico hit 881,000 in the first three quarters of 2023, the most recent period for which data is available, up from 689,000 in the same period of 2022.
The rise came as Mexico overtook China as the biggest exporter of goods to the US last year, and as truck shipments across the border into the US have continued to increase quickly.
The numbers also point to the difficulty facing the Biden administration, as it moves aggressively to curb US dependency on global supply chains dominated by geopolitical rivals such as China, whose manufacturing capacity has given it a pre-eminent role in supplies of everything from white goods to electric vehicles.