Mexico-European Union trade reaches $94.6 billion in 2025 as TLCUEM modernization advances industrial ties
Mexico and the European Union are modernizing the Global Agreement (TLCUEM) that has governed their economic relationship since 2000, adding provisions on digital trade, sustainability, innovation and supply chain resilience as bilateral commerce and investment continue to expand. Bilateral trade between Mexico and the EU reached $94.6 billion in 2025, according to Mexico’s Ministry of Economy, making the bloc Mexico’s third-largest trading partner and its second-largest source of foreign direct investment after the United States.
European investment climbs to $9.91 billion, with a quarter flowing to manufacturing
The European Union invested $9.91 billion in Mexico during 2025, according to the Ministry of Economy. About one in every four of those dollars went to the manufacturing sector, and more than 13,900 European companies currently operate in the country, contributing to employment, technology transfer and production for both domestic and export markets.
Trade between Mexico and the EU has grown more than 300% since 2000
EU exports to Mexico totaled $66.94 billion in 2025, while Mexican exports to European markets reached $27.66 billion, per the same government data. Mexico’s principal exports to Europe include minerals and chemical products, auto parts and transportation equipment, and machinery and electronics, while European exports to Mexico concentrate in industrial machinery, chemical products, and auto parts and transportation equipment. Trade between the two economies has grown more than 300% since the original TLCUEM entered into force in 2000.
Spain, the Netherlands and France lead a diversified investor base
Spain was the largest European investor in Mexico in 2025 with $4.43 billion, followed by the Netherlands with $2.39 billion, France with $1.22 billion, Germany with $800 million, Sweden with $439 million, Italy with $245 million and Ireland with $228 million. The modernized agreement is intended to support additional investment by creating what the Ministry of Economy describes as a more current framework for economic cooperation, sustainability initiatives and industrial collaboration.
Switzerland plans to add $1.24 billion in investment during 2026
Switzerland, negotiating a parallel modernization of its free trade agreement with Mexico through the European Free Trade Association, expects to invest approximately $1.24 billion in the country during 2026. That figure builds on a record 2025, in which SwissCham México reported that Swiss companies invested $2.3 billion and now operate 55 production facilities in Mexico, supporting more than 55,000 direct jobs.
The investment outlook was reaffirmed during a visit by Swiss Confederation President Guy Parmelin, who met with President Claudia Sheinbaum and traveled with a delegation representing 30 Swiss companies. Recent Swiss announcements include a $44 million Bühler manufacturing plant expected to create 500 jobs, and expansions by Franke and ABB in San Luis Potosí expected to generate more than 2,000 combined jobs.
Italian companies signal further expansion under the modernized framework
Italian firms plan to keep expanding operations in Mexico as the TLCUEM update moves forward, according to Alessandro Modiano, Italy’s ambassador to Mexico. Modiano said Italian companies that invested in Mexico over recent decades, spanning large industrial groups, energy firms and manufacturers, are likely to deepen that interest as the modernized agreement takes effect, and pointed to confidence that the USMCA will be renewed as a further draw for companies using Mexico as an export platform to the United States and Canada.
What deeper Europe-Mexico integration means for companies weighing Mexico
Mexico’s simultaneous engagement with the United States under the USMCA, with the European Union under the modernized TLCUEM, and with Switzerland under the EFTA framework points to a manufacturing base with market access on multiple fronts at once. For companies moving through IMMEX registration, tax structuring and labor compliance while entering or expanding in Mexico, that overlapping set of trade frameworks makes getting the administrative foundation right from the outset more consequential, not less. American Industries Group works with international manufacturers on the legal, tax and operational setup needed to establish and grow in Mexico.
Sources: Secretaría de Economía, SwissCham México in national and local media
