US Pushes Rules of Origin for AI Hardware in USMCA Talks With Mexico

Monterrey, Nuevo León — The United States is pressuring Mexican officials in USMCA negotiations to accept rules of origin for exports of artificial intelligence hardware, part of an effort to stop Chinese and other foreign companies from dodging tariffs, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the talks.

According to the Journal, the proposal would cap the amount of components sourced from outside North America that can be used in manufacturing AI hardware — a category that includes chips and servers and has quickly become Mexico’s leading export to the United States, overtaking automobiles this year.

The newspaper added that beyond AI equipment, Washington could propose standards to reduce Chinese content and increase North American components across a broad range of consumer goods, including medical equipment.

US negotiators want AI equipment and other sectors to operate under the same sourcing rules already applied to the automotive industry, which require that at least 75% of a vehicle’s components come from North American suppliers for the product to qualify for tariff exemptions.

Talks Delayed One Week

The Journal reported that the plan remains at an early stage and that Washington has not yet specified what share of content should come from North America or the United States for each industry, nor how long sectors would have to adapt.

Trade negotiations between the United States and Mexico were postponed by a week, moving to September 28 and 29, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the plans.

“Tech imports are on the rise and the question of true origin is becoming confusing,” said Jay Gerard, senior vice president at Worldwide Logistics, a US logistics and freight transportation company.

“China believes it can come in through the Western Hemisphere, bypass all our trade agreements and pretend the products are made in Mexico when they are really Chinese products,” said Senator Bernie Moreno, a Republican from Ohio who has consulted Mexican industry groups about establishing rules of origin for new industries.

“We have to take strong action on this, because we don’t want a trade agreement that lets Mexico and Canada serve as a gateway for China to evade trade restrictions.”

Server Exports Surge

The boom in technology trade between Mexico and the United States is fueling the rapid expansion of AI north of the border.

In Laredo, Texas, the main US trade gateway, computer imports hovered around $6 billion a year between 2021 and 2023, then jumped to $13.4 billion in 2024 and $30.8 billion in 2025, according to Daniel Covarrubias, a trade expert at Texas A&M International University.

The Journal highlighted that in the first half of this year Mexico exported $83 billion worth of computer servers destined for AI data centers, 94% of them shipped to the United States — an increase of more than 170%, according to S&P Global data.

Taiwanese companies such as Foxconn are using their operations in Mexico to build servers and AI components for US technology firms including Nvidia.

Those companies could be affected by the new rules of origin, depending on how large a share of components they buy in North America versus Asia, the Journal warned.