Mexico Holds the 4th-Best Tariff Access of 33 Economies and Finishes Last of 33 on Global Trade Integration
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — September 3, 2026 — Mexico opens its market more widely than all but three of the 33 economies compared in Intratec's Industry Economics & Competitiveness 2025 Annual Review, published today, and finishes 33rd of 33 — dead last — on how far it is integrated into global trade. The country closed 2025 ranked 15th of 33 overall, on a score of 49.9 that rose 0.2% year-on-year, the same place it held in 2024.
The review compares 33 economies on the same basis across 14 pillars — among them manufacturing and construction labor costs, industrial energy prices, taxation and market access — with findings drawn across 7 industries.
Both ranks describe the same country in the same year. On tariff protection and market access Mexico ranks 4th of 33: only three countries open their markets wider. On global trade integration it ranks 33rd. The terms of trade are open; the trade has not followed.
The cost base is not what stands in the way. Manufacturing labor costs about $10.0 an hour, counting everything an employer pays — roughly a fifth of the $50.8 an hour paid in the United States, though more than China's $6.7. Construction labor runs $4.8 an hour. Building a plant costs 0.92 times the US benchmark, just under the American price, and capital costs are low as well. Employers pay a payroll charge of 11% of wages, against a 33-country average of 18.2% and the 28% charged in China. Energy is the one line that is not cheap: $25.7 per MMBtu, against a field average of $24.0.
"At $10 an hour all-in, a Mexican manufacturing worker costs a fifth of an American one — and the plant around them is cheaper to build than in the United States. On pure cost, the nearshoring case still holds."
— Bruno Maia, Lead Analyst, Industry Economics & Competitiveness
What holds Mexico at 15th sits between the plant and the customer. Logistics and infrastructure rank 24th of 33, macroeconomic stability 28th and industrial production 21st. Freight access, domestic taxes, commodity prices and processing margin all sit mid-table, between 17th and 21st, adding little lift. A plant in Mexico is cheap to staff and cheap to build. Beyond its open tariff terms, the country remains poorly connected to global trade.
One pillar of the fourteen did most of the year's moving across the field, and it is the pillar Mexico ranks 4th on. Tariff Protection & Market Access moved as a bloc: all eleven European Union members in the field were that pillar's eleven largest climbers, Poland and the Netherlands furthest of all, while the United Kingdom and Norway went the other way.
The table around Mexico moved more than Mexico did. China closed 2025 on top for an eleventh straight year, the top five held their exact 2024 positions, and movement began at 6th, where Singapore and the Philippines traded places. Below them Finland climbed five places, the Czech Republic and South Korea four apiece, and Brazil fell five. Ranks 8 through 33 sit inside a 4.4-point band, so a small score move shifts several places. In the Americas, the United States leads the region at 9th, with Canada 11th and Colombia 12th ahead of Mexico, and Chile 22nd and Brazil 30th behind it.
The Industry Economics & Competitiveness 2025 Annual Review is free to read, and its methodology is open.
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