Mexico's Export Boom Meets Oil and IMSS Strains

IMSS workers protested over pay, workloads and shortages of medicines and medical supplies before Mexican Social Security Institute general director Zoé Robledo presented a 12-action plan in response. Robledo said the actions “stem from what the [IMSS] workers themselves told us.” The promises now sit on a 120-day timetable, while workers’ demands expose the distance between official plans and the conditions inside Mexico’s largest public healthcare provider.

Mexico’s exports reached US$77.79 billion in September 2026, up 37.9% from September 2025, as manufactured goods—especially computer and electronic equipment—rode demand from the U.S. data-center boom driven by artificial intelligence. The total was the country’s third-highest monthly export figure on record, after July and August. INEGI said exports set monthly records in all three months.

Who gets the promised relief

The IMSS plan includes an 8% salary increase and a move to permanent positions for almost 11,000 temporary workers. It also promises 2,500 specialist doctors, 100 pieces of high-tech medical equipment, 2,917 other pieces of equipment, and more than 18,000 additional beds and gurneys. Workers had called for higher pay, more healthcare personnel to ease excessive workloads, and an end to shortages of medicines and medical supplies.

The plan also calls for a “permanent maintenance” program, “guaranteed” medicines and medical supplies, “complete” provision of medications in IMSS pharmacies, a program to clear the surgical backlog, specialist appointments in December, and stronger emergency departments, including through additional hiring. Robledo said December appointments had commonly been rescheduled to January or February.

Medicine shortages had persisted despite a “mega-pharmacy” established in 2023 and the “Rutas de la Salud” (Health Routes) distribution scheme introduced the previous year. The government presented this plan after announcing another initiative on medication supply and distribution. Its own list of promises names the shortfalls: medicines, equipment, beds, staffing, maintenance and delayed appointments.

The export surge and the oil bill

Manufactured goods accounted for 93.5% of September exports. Manufactured exports totaled US$72.77 billion, up 39%, while non-automotive manufactured exports reached US$56.34 billion, up 53%. Electric and electronic equipment and devices rose 94.7%. Automotive manufactured exports totaled US$16.43 billion, up 5.7%.

For January-September, exports totaled US$627.19 billion, up 30.4% from the same period in 2025. Imports rose 27.5% to US$617.94 billion, leaving a US$9.25 billion trade surplus. The report said the January-October export total was practically certain to exceed the full-year 2025 record of US$664.8 billion. Imports were also expected to pass their 2025 record.

The export boom sits alongside a growing oil trade deficit. Mexico’s deficit reached US$25.68 billion in January-September, exceeding the US$25.55 billion deficit recorded in 2025. Oil exports totaled US$16.35 billion, down 0.2%, while petroleum-product imports reached US$42.03 billion, up 19.4%. The country remained far from its goal of fuel self-sufficiency, including gasoline.

Spending on petroleum-based consumer goods, or fuel, rose 27.7% to US$14.04 billion in the first nine months. Factor Energético said the increase “warrants special attention due to its potential impact on supply and the domestic market’s exposure to international prices.” Mexico also spent US$27.99 billion on petroleum-based intermediate goods, up 15.7%. If the deficit continued widening in the final three months of 2026, as expected, Mexico would record its largest oil deficit on record.

Audits, contracts and official promises

The government announced US$60 million to restore polluted, drought-affected Lake Pátzcuaro, Mexico’s third-largest lake. Four wastewater plants are being built and six renovated, alongside environmental rehabilitation measures.

President Claudia Sheinbaum called for a comprehensive audit of the National Electoral Institute (INE) and endorsed INE president Guadalupe Taddei’s decision to resign. Taddei resigned amid allegations that lucrative contracts had been improperly awarded to companies controlled by a businessman with whom she had a close personal relationship. Sheinbaum advocated “constant audits” and rejected claims that the ruling Morena party was responsible for improper conduct at the INE.

Taddei became INE president in 2023 through a lottery conducted by the Chamber of Deputies after no candidate secured the required two-thirds support among lower-house lawmakers. Questions arose about her family links to the government and Morena. Journalist Carlos Loret de Mola called her a “morenista” and accused the INE of favoring the ruling party under her leadership. Sheinbaum replied: “Don’t come and tell us... that Morena is the problem.” The contracts, allegations and competing claims remain the facts beneath the official calls for oversight.