Mexico Posts Record $23.59 Billion in Foreign Direct Investment for Q1 2026, Up 10.4% Year-Over-Year

Mexico recorded $23.591 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) during the first quarter of 2026, the highest figure ever reported for a first quarter and a 10.4% increase over the same period of 2025, the Secretaría de Economía announced on May 25. The result extends a growth trend in first-quarter FDI that has been building since 2020 and arrived despite trade tensions with the United States and the upcoming review of the T-MEC trade agreement.

The bulk of the quarter’s inflow came from reinvested earnings — profits that foreign companies already operating in Mexico chose to keep in the country rather than repatriate. That component reached $22.222 billion, a 33.5% jump over the $16.647 billion reported a year earlier. New investments accounted for $1.705 billion, a 7.5% increase over Q1 2025.

“This means, contrary to what many perhaps expected, that we have growth of 10.4% with respect to the first quarter of 2025,” Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard said during the press conference presenting the figures. Ebrard added that international investors are positioning Mexico as the most competitive partner to supply the U.S. market: “Today we are the country that exports the most to the United States and pays the lowest tariff. We are in the best possible position.”

The Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad (IMCO) noted in its analysis of the same data that, when measured against the original preliminary figures from Q1 2025 rather than the revised ones, new investments actually fell 26.6% while reinvested earnings grew 14.35%. The observation underscores that the headline record is being driven by companies already in Mexico expanding their footprint, not by new entrants.

The United States remained the largest source of FDI, channeling $10.210 billion to Mexico — 43.3% of the total and a 23.6% increase year-over-year. Spain followed with $3.804 billion (+18.5%), Australia with $1.446 billion (+19.6%), Japan with $985 million (+41.5%), and Canada with $894 million (+12.2%). Together, those five countries concentrated 73.5% of all FDI received during the quarter.

By state, Ciudad de México captured the largest share of the inflows, followed by Estado de México, Nuevo León, Baja California, and Jalisco. The Ministry of Economy noted that the geographic concentration reflects the weight of financial services, banking, and insurance activity, which is anchored in the capital and the Monterrey corridor.

Financial services and insurance captured $6.851 billion, a 28.8% increase that made it the single largest sector. Vehicle manufacturing recorded $4.033 billion, up 20.4% year-over-year. Other sectors posted larger percentage gains from smaller bases: mining grew 39.7%, computing equipment and electronic components rose 58.7%, construction nearly doubled at 96.3%, and transportation, mail, and warehousing jumped 123.3% — a figure that reflects investment in logistics infrastructure tied to nearshoring activity.

According to coverage from Expansión, the quarter also included notable projects in medical devices in Nuevo León, Chihuahua, and Ciudad de México, as well as data center and electronics investments in central Mexico. Automotive, auto parts, and electromobility projects were concentrated in Guanajuato and the Bajío.

The reinvestment dynamic visible in the first-quarter data — over $22 billion coming from foreign companies already operating in Mexico — is the indicator that most directly speaks to the manufacturing operating environment. When multinational manufacturers choose to keep earnings inside Mexico and expand existing operations, it generally signals that the assumptions behind their original site selection — workforce availability, supply chain integration, proximity to U.S. demand — continue to hold under current conditions.

As a facilitator of foreign manufacturing operations in Mexico since 1976, American Industries Group has supported the establishment and growth of more than 300 companies with FDI from 20+ countries. The first-quarter figures align with what we observe in client conversations: existing operators are evaluating capacity additions, while new market entrants are weighing the T-MEC review timeline against the operational realities of an installed industrial base that continues to grow.

The formal review of the T-MEC begins on July 1, 2026, with preliminary U.S.-Mexico dialogue sessions scheduled for May 27–29 ahead of the Mexican delegation’s trip to Washington. Ebrard signaled that Mexico’s posture in the review will oppose intra-regional tariffs — particularly in steel and automotive — and will push for revisions to rules of origin, customs systems, sanitary regulation, and dispute resolution mechanisms. How second-quarter and full-year FDI figures evolve once the review formally begins will be the clearest signal of whether the reinvestment momentum reflects durable confidence or a pre-review window of activity.

Sources: El País, El Financiero, IMCO, Expansión