The next time a repair shop replaces a brake component, suspension part, electrical module, or body panel on an American vehicle, there is a good chance that the part did not originate in the United States.
The American automotive repair market is deeply connected to an international manufacturing network, and three countries stand out in that system: Mexico, Canada, and China.
The 60 percent figure in the headline is not an official government statistic saying that exactly 60 percent of every repair part installed in the United States comes from these three countries. However, it closely reflects U.S. International Trade Commission data on vehicle-parts imports.
In 2024, the United States imported $197.3 billion worth of vehicle parts. Mexico supplied $81.2 billion, Canada supplied $19.5 billion, and China supplied $18.3 billion. Combined, those three countries accounted for $119 billion, or about 60.3 percent of the value of all U.S. vehicle-parts imports.
That is a significant concentration for an industry that affects virtually every American driver. It also helps explain why international trade policy can reach consumers through something as ordinary as a repair bill.
Mexico Has Become the Dominant Source
Mexico is by far the largest of the three suppliers. According to the USITC, U.S. imports of vehicle parts from Mexico reached $81.2 billion in 2024, compared with $60.3 billion in 2019. That represents an increase of $20.9 billion, and Mexico alone accounted for more than 41 percent of all U.S. vehicle-parts imports in 2024.
The scale of Mexico’s automotive-parts industry helps explain that position. The U.S. Department of Commerce says Mexico produced approximately $121.3 billion worth of automotive parts in 2024 and exported approximately $106 billion.
The country ranked as the world’s fourth-largest spare-parts producer and exporter, with particularly strong manufacturing capabilities in electrical components, seating, suspension, engine, and transmission parts.
Mexico’s importance is not simply the result of inexpensive labor. Decades of North American integration have created a supply network in which components can cross borders several times before reaching their final destination.
U.S. companies operate manufacturing facilities in Mexico, Mexican suppliers provide components to American plants, and materials can move between the two countries as different stages of production are completed.
The Department of Commerce reports that U.S. manufacturers operating in Mexico represent 18 percent of the companies in Mexico’s automotive-parts industry. The sector contains more than 2,100 companies, including more than 700 Tier 1 suppliers.
That means a part labeled as being manufactured in Mexico does not necessarily represent a completely independent foreign supply chain. It can be part of a North American manufacturing process involving American engineering, American raw materials, and Mexican production and distribution back into the United States.
Canada occupies a different but equally important position. The USITC recorded $19.5 billion in U.S. vehicle-parts imports from Canada in 2024. That was higher than the $16.8 billion recorded in 2019, although Canada’s share of the U.S. import market is much smaller than Mexico’s.
The relationship is highly integrated in both directions. The USITC reported that U.S. producers accounted for 64.4 percent of Canada’s vehicle-parts imports in 2024, up from 61.9 percent in 2019. That figure demonstrates how closely connected the two countries’ component industries remain.
The United States, Mexico, and Canada, therefore, should not be viewed as three isolated suppliers competing for American business.
The North American automotive industry functions as an interconnected production system. A component can begin its journey in one country, be processed in another, and eventually be installed in a vehicle assembled somewhere else.
The USMCA reinforced that structure by raising regional-value-content requirements for many automotive products.
Under the agreement, core vehicle components such as engines, transmissions, bodies, axles, steering systems, suspension systems, and advanced batteries used for propulsion are subject to a 75 percent North American regional-value-content requirement when manufacturers want to qualify for the agreement’s preferential treatment.
For consumers, this means “imported” does not automatically mean “built entirely overseas.” North American automotive manufacturing is much more complicated than the country printed on a component’s packaging suggests.
China Adds Another Layer of Supply-Chain Dependence
China’s position is different from Mexico and Canada. While Mexico and Canada are deeply embedded in the North American automotive system, China has become a major independent source of components for American vehicles and the aftermarket.
USITC data show that the United States imported $18.3 billion in vehicle parts from China during 2024. That made China the third-largest source behind Mexico and Canada. Together, Mexico, Canada and China supplied approximately 60.3 percent of the $197.3 billion in U.S. vehicle-parts imports that year.
China’s importance has existed for years. A USITC analysis of Chinese automotive parts found that China became the second-largest source of U.S. automotive-parts imports in 2018, surpassing Canada at that time. The agency noted that Chinese suppliers increasingly served both vehicle manufacturers and foreign aftermarket markets.
The breadth of Chinese manufacturing also matters. The country can produce everything from relatively simple replacement components to sophisticated electronic equipment, allowing suppliers to participate in multiple layers of the automotive supply chain.
At the same time, China is not the only significant source outside North America. Japan supplied $15.8 billion in vehicle parts to the United States in 2024, while South Korea supplied $12.7 billion. All other countries combined accounted for another $49.9 billion.
That is why the 60 percent figure should be interpreted as a measure of concentration rather than a complete description of where American repair parts come from. Roughly four out of every ten dollars of imported vehicle parts came from countries other than Mexico, Canada, and China in 2024, and the United States itself also produces a substantial volume of components.
The distinction between vehicle production parts and repair parts is also important. USITC trade statistics classify vehicle parts by customs categories rather than tracking whether every individual component ultimately goes into a new vehicle or a repair.
Therefore, it would be inaccurate to say that exactly 60 percent of the parts installed by U.S. repair shops came from these three countries.
What the data do demonstrate is that the broader U.S. vehicle-parts supply chain is heavily dependent on them.
That dependence became especially visible when vehicle production and supply chains were disrupted during the pandemic. The USITC reported that increased demand from the vehicle repair and maintenance industry contributed to higher imports of vehicle parts during the semiconductor shortage.
Because new-vehicle production was constrained and vehicle prices increased, consumers kept existing vehicles longer and relied more heavily on repairs.
The consequences can be significant when the international supply chain is disrupted. A shortage of a relatively inexpensive component can delay a repair just as effectively as a shortage of an expensive engine control module.
Repair shops need access to thousands of different parts, and modern vehicles contain increasingly sophisticated electronics, sensors, and control systems.
Trade policy can therefore affect repair costs even when a vehicle itself is assembled in America. The Associated Press reported that tariffs on imported automotive products can raise costs for repair shops because many replacement components are manufactured outside the United States.
Engines, transmissions, and electrical components are among the areas that can be affected by higher import costs.
The issue has become even more relevant as the United States continues debating how much automotive manufacturing should be brought back domestically.
Recent USITC data show that U.S. vehicle-parts imports increased from $154.9 billion in 2019 to $197.3 billion in 2024, a $42.4 billion increase. Mexico accounted for almost half of that increase by itself.
Reducing dependence on foreign suppliers would therefore be a much larger undertaking than simply building more assembly plants.
The United States would need additional capacity across the component industry, including metals, castings, electronics, sensors, wiring, plastics, batteries, drivetrain components, and countless smaller parts that rarely attract attention until they are unavailable.
For American vehicle owners, the practical lesson is straightforward. The country where a vehicle was assembled does not tell the full story of its repair-parts supply chain.
A Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, or Honda assembled in the United States can contain components manufactured across several countries, while replacement parts can travel through equally complicated distribution networks before reaching a repair shop.
The headline’s 60 percent figure is therefore best understood as a reflection of the concentration shown in official U.S. trade data, not as a claim that exactly six out of every ten replacement parts installed on American vehicles are made in Mexico, Canada, or China.
In 2024, those three countries did account for about 60 percent of the value of U.S. vehicle-parts imports, according to the USITC.
That distinction makes the statistic more credible, not less significant. It shows just how dependent the American automotive ecosystem has become on a small group of international manufacturing hubs, and why changes in tariffs, trade agreements, transportation costs, or foreign production can eventually reach the repair invoice sitting in front of an American driver.
