Mexico manufacturers: how manufacturing in Mexico works for brands

Why brands look at Mexico

The case for Mexico is distance. US goods imports from Mexico came to $534.3 billion in 2025^[1], up from $503.1 billion in 2024^[1], and freight between the two countries was $872.8 billion in 2025, up 3.9% from 2024^[2]. Much of it moves by road, through one main crossing: the port of Laredo, which handled 38.8% of all inbound trucks from Mexico in 2025^[3]. The same agency says the growth of truck freight with Mexico likely reflects nearshoring, where manufacturing has shifted from Asia to Mexico to be closer to the U.S. market^[2].

For a small brand, a truck border crossing changes planning more than price. There is no ocean voyage to wait on, and restocking in smaller, more frequent lots becomes realistic. Whether the unit price competes with Asia depends on the product, so compare quotes on a landed basis rather than on the factory price alone.

Where manufacturing is concentrated

Mexico's export plants lean north. By count of establishments in the IMMEX export program, the leaders are Baja California (17.3% of IMMEX establishments), followed by Nuevo León (13.8%), Chihuahua (9.3%), Coahuila (7.1%), Guanajuato and Jalisco (6.4% each) and Tamaulipas (6.2%)^[4]. By employment the order shifts slightly: Nuevo León (13.6% of IMMEX employment), Chihuahua (12.0%), Baja California (11.8%), Coahuila (8.2%), Jalisco (7.6%) and Tamaulipas (7.3%)^[4].

Consumer goods follow a different map, drawn from Mexico's business directory (DENUE). Footwear is heavily concentrated: there are 9,483 footwear manufacturing businesses listed in DENUE 2026, led by Guanajuato (5,320), Michoacán (983) and Jalisco (505)^[5]. Apparel is spread wider, with 43,441 apparel manufacturing businesses listed in DENUE 2026, led by Puebla (7,067), Estado de México (4,563) and Oaxaca (3,579)^[6], and it is mostly very small: there are 40,691 apparel manufacturing businesses with 0 to 10 employees in the DENUE data published in May 2026^[6]. Those counts are business listings, not a count of export-ready factories. A workshop with a handful of sewers can be a good fit for a first run, but ask how it handles cutting, finishing and the paperwork a US shipment needs.

IMMEX: the export factories

The program to know is the IMMEX program, an export promotion instrument that lets companies temporarily import goods for an industrial or service process aimed at export, deferring payment of Mexico's general import tax, value added tax and, where applicable, compensatory duties^[7]. Registered companies can bring in raw materials, inputs, components, containers and packaging, as well as machinery and equipment^[8] on a temporary basis, as long as the output is exported. INEGI counted 6,520 establishments registered in the IMMEX program in June 2026, 5,214 of them in manufacturing^[4], with 3,189,546 people employed in IMMEX establishments in June 2026^[4].

IMMEX is a program for Mexican producers, not for foreign buyers, so you do not apply for it. What it tells you is how a plant is set up: an IMMEX factory is organized around exporting and around bringing in inputs temporarily. One detail matters for apparel brands. IMMEX has a special category for textiles, which appear on the IMMEX list of sensitive products (Annex II of the IMMEX Decree) alongside sugar, steel products, aluminum, iron ore, tobacco and tires^[7], so ask how the garment plant handles imported fabric under its program before you plan around it.

USMCA, origin and duty

Mexico trades with the US under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), in force since July 1, 2020^[9]. Being made in Mexico is not the same as qualifying under the agreement. Goods qualify only when they meet its rules of origin, and those rules are strict for clothing:

• Clothing is yarn-forward with certain exceptions, under the USMCA rule of origin for apparel^[10]. That means yarn forward: the yarn and all subsequent production processes used to make the finished product must be from a USMCA country, while the fiber can be sourced from anywhere^[10]. A garment sewn in Mexico from fabric woven in Asia generally does not meet it.
• There is a small allowance for inputs from outside the region: a 10 percent de minimis for non-originating inputs in qualifying goods, within which elastomeric content may not exceed 7% of total weight^[11].
• The paperwork is lighter than many buyers expect. There is no required certificate of origin form: a USMCA claim needs nine specific data elements, which can be presented in any format^[11], and there is no certification of origin for a commercial importation whose originating goods are valued at no more than US $2,500, unless it is part of a series of importations arranged to evade the preference rules^[11].

Origin decides the extra duty as well. Two lines of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule matter here:

• Products of Mexico: the subheading's duty plus 10% (heading 9903.05.55), apart from products in headings 9903.05.85 to 9903.05.92 and 9903.05.94^[12].
• Products of Mexico entered free of duty under the USMCA: the heading 9903.05.55 duty does not apply (heading 9903.05.94, U.S. note 52(h) to chapter 99)^[13].

Both lines trace to one trade action. USTR ran Section 301 investigations of 60 economies, Mexico among them, opened on March 12, 2026, related to the failure to impose and effectively enforce a ban on imports of goods produced with forced labor^[14]. It counted Mexico among six economies that USTR found have failed to effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor^[15], and it closed the investigations with a July 28, 2026 notice of actions in all 60 investigations, imposing tariffs on all products of each investigated economy, with certain exemptions^[15], which added a new U.S. note 52 to chapter 99, under which headings 9903.05.20 to 9903.05.84 impose additional duties on all products of the countries they cover^[15]. The USMCA line is an exemption within that note.

So a product that qualifies under the USMCA and one that does not can land at very different costs, even from the same factory. Ask, in writing, which rule of origin the goods qualify under and what their fabric and components are made from.

The agreement itself is under review. The US, Mexico and Canada held a July 1, 2026 joint review at which the United States did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form, while the Agreement remains in force pending resolution of the issues or until its termination^[16]. Check the agreement's status again before you sign a long supply contract that depends on it.

Labor costs

Mexico's minimum wage is 315.04 pesos a day (general) and 440.87 pesos a day in the Northern Border Free Zone, from January 1, 2026^[17]. A minimum wage is a floor, not what a factory pays skilled sewers or machine operators, so treat it as context for a quote, not as a way to estimate one.

Checking a Mexican supplier

Start with the company's tax identity. Every Mexican business has the RFC (Registro Federal de Contribuyentes), an alphanumeric code that identifies each taxpayer before Mexico's tax authority^[18]. Ask for it, check that it matches the legal name on the quote and the invoice, and make sure the company you pay is the one that ships. Then ask for photos or a video walk-through of the production floor, a reference from another export customer, and a paid sample before you commit to a first order.

Getting quotes from Mexico

In your request, say whether the product needs to qualify under the USMCA and what its fabric or components are made from. We introduce you to manufacturers in Mexico that fit that specification, each one named, and tell you if none does. Each manufacturer quotes you directly, so ask for the shipping terms on every quote and set each one against an Asian quote on the same landed basis.