If you focus on the trade deficits that the U.S. carries with its two largest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, you’re only getting half the story. The other side is that these two countries also are the U.S.’s biggest importers.
In 2015, Canada, the country that is the U.S.’s top goods importer, imported $280.3 billion of U.S. goods, while exporting $295.2 billion to the U.S.
Meanwhile, Mexico, the country that is the U.S.’s second biggest goods importer, imported $236.4 billion of U.S. goods, and exported $294.7 billion to the U.S., in 2015.
Even China, with which the U.S. carries the biggest trade deficit, ranks as the U.S.’s third biggest goods importing country. In 2015, it imported $116.2 billion from the U.S., while exporting $481.9 billion to the U.S.