In recognition of the role of Mexican imports of U.S. agricultural goods. U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) staff joined U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on the largest USDA agribusiness trade mission in history from November 3 to 5, 2025. The mission to Mexico highlighted Mexico’s critical role as the top market for U.S. wheat exports and provided a platform to discuss the future of the two countries’ trade relationship.
“This mission really highlighted the importance of the Mexican market to U.S. agriculture as the number one destination for many U.S. exports, including wheat,” said Brian Liedl, USW vice president of overseas operations, who participated in the mission. “With bilateral trading nearing $1 trillion, this is not only the largest trading relationship for both nations, but also the largest bilateral trading relationship in world history.”
The delegation included more than 150 participants, including Brian Liedl and Mitch Skalicky, USW Mexico City-based regional vice president for Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and Venezuela. Including USW, the mission represented 33 agricultural cooperators and advocacy groups, six state departments of agriculture and 41 U.S. businesses.
“The trading and diplomatic relationship between our two countries is of the utmost importance to President Trump and American farmers and ranchers,” Rollins said in a USDA release following the mission. “This week was an incredible opportunity to connect buyers and sellers with over 500 meetings over three days, pushing for American exports into Mexico’s ethanol market, and discuss the upcoming review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.”
USDA Mission Showcases USW’s Success in Mexico
U.S. wheat farmers were well-represented in many of the meetings, including the roundtable discussion between U.S. agricultural cooperators and agribusinesses with their counterparts in Mexican agribusiness. The session was led by the U.S. senior agricultural attaché in Mexico and provided an opportunity for 40 or so business leaders to candidly discuss the opportunities and challenges ahead for U.S.-Mexico trade.
USW staff in Mexico City were essential to ensuring U.S. wheat farmers were well-represented, both during business meetings and in the mission’s visits to Mexican businesses, including a Walmart, Grupo Bimbo and CIMMYT.
The mission also included a tour of Grupo Bimbo’s largest bakery in Mexico City, which Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Affairs Luke Lindberg attended. Grupo Bimbo imported nearly $400 million in U.S. ingredients in 2024 and is the largest consumer of flour made from U.S. wheat in Mexico.
“The scale of Grupo Bimbo’s operation is enormous, and it is easy to get lost in the impressive expanse filled with high-tech product lines,” Liedl said. “The company has become the largest producers of baked goods in the world, and they rely on the consistent and high quality of our wheat to produce those goods.”
Grupo Bimbo is a major focus of the USW office in Mexico City. The success of U.S. wheat exports to Mexico was built on strong relationships between USW staff and the Mexican milling and baking industries, focused on technical assistance and trade servicing activities.
“USW maintains a permanent office in Mexico staffed with marketing and technical experts to make sure we always have resources on hand to answer customer questions or take advantage of any opportunities,” Liedl said. “This full-time support shows the commitment USW has to this large and growing market.”
Trade Framework Supports Record Wheat Exports to Mexico
That support is backed by a predictable policy framework. Today, Mexico is the most important market for U.S. wheat growers, typically accounting for 20 percent of U.S. wheat exports each year, up from less than three percent prior to the formal trilateral trade agreements entering into force in 1994.
The U.S. wheat industry recently shared that the strong economic environment and trilateral cooperation provided by the agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada (USMCA) have led to this export success in comments to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
The USMCA was also a hot topic during the USDA trade mission, which had numerous discussions on how the agreement and its predecessor – the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)- have demonstrated to Mexican customers that they can count on reliable supplies of products like U.S. wheat.
“The USMCA, like any agreement, has some room for improvement as the world has changed over time, but those areas pale in comparison to the prosperity the agreement has brought all of the United States and Mexico,” Liedl said. “The message reverberating throughout the mission was that continuing the success of the USMCA will continue to be beneficial for this ever-expanding trade relationship.”
Since this trading framework was first put into place, U.S. wheat exports to Mexico have increased substantially in both volume and share of total U.S. wheat sales. In the first year of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – the predecessor to the USMCA – Mexico imported nearly 23 million bushels (625,000 metric tons (MT)), compared to almost 147 million bushels (4.0 MMT) in the first full year of USMCA implementation. In the 2024/2025 marketing year, the United States exported about 125 million bushels (3.4 MMT) of U.S. wheat to Mexico.
As of September 25, Mexico remains the top importer of U.S. wheat with sales on the books for 84.5 million bushels (nearly 2.3 MMT) for the 2025/2026 marketing year, up 21% from last year at this time. Mexico is currently the largest buyer of U.S. hard red winter (HRW) and U.S. soft red winter (SRW) wheat, the second-largest buyer of U.S. hard red spring (HRS) wheat, the second largest buyer of U.S. durum – given the severe drought Mexico experienced in 2024/2025 – and is a top 10 buyer of U.S. white wheat.
U.S. Wheat Farmers Well Positioned to Continue Increasing Trade with Mexico
Overall, the USDA mission consistently reinforced how U.S. agricultural products like wheat benefit from the close trade relationship with Mexico and how continued success is a win-win scenario for both U.S. farmers and Mexican customers.
“Secretary Rollins really did an impressive job leading this trade mission,” Liedl said. “She was poised and focused on the message that this relationship is vitally important to U.S. farmers, and she is doing everything she can to strengthen it further. Mexico is a growing market with rising standards, and U.S. wheat is perfectly positioned to continue to grow with our customers.”