Nearshoring: What It Means for Paying Your Suppliers

Nearshoring Is Changing How US Businesses Pay Suppliers in Mexico

US companies put $16.9 billion of direct investment into Mexico in the first half of 2026, nearly half of all the foreign capital the country took in over those six months. In the same stretch of 2018, the US figure was under $7 billion.

The investments are going towards auto parts plants in Nuevo León, electronics assembly lines in Baja California, and the warehouses that move their output north. Each of those facilities depends on a network of local machine shops, freight carriers, and engineering firms; for a growing number of American companies, Mexican suppliers and contractors are now central to how they make and deliver their products.

However, moving production closer to home doesn't necessarily make paying for it simpler. Many businesses default to using an international wire to move money across borders, which can pass through correspondent banks and can take days to settle. However, there are alternatives: SPEI, Mexico's 24/7 instant payment system, can be directly accessed by American companies, and stablecoins continue to increase in popularity for cross-border transactions due to their speed and low costs.

If your business is working out the best way to move money to and from Mexico, Slash is a business banking platform that can help with the arrangement.¹ You can pay Mexican suppliers and contractors in pesos over SPEI straight from your Slash account. Additionally, businesses in Mexico can open a Slash Global Account to receive and hold US dollars without a US entity, then use SPEI to move money between that dollar account and their Mexican bank account.³

Why US Companies Are Moving to Mexico

Mexico passed Canada as the top US trading partner in 2024 and kept the position in 2025, with $976.1 billion in combined goods and services trade. Mexico was also the largest source of US goods imports last year, ahead of China. US imports from Mexico reached $534.8 billion in 2025, up about 69% from 2006 after adjusting for inflation.

Those numbers describe a lasting shift in where American companies make and buy things, and its effects reach well beyond the factory floor. When a supplier, a contract manufacturer, or a team of engineers moves to Mexico, so does a share of the company's spending, along with a second currency, a different payment system, and new paperwork. Three forces explain why the shift is happening and why it's likely to last.

Supply chains are moving closer to home

With the rise of offshoring in the 1990s, US manufacturers sought the lowest unit cost for manufacturing and logistics worldwide – which for two decades was China. However, pandemic shipping delays rolled into rising tariffs on Chinese goods, which forced companies to start weighing speed and reliability alongside unit cost. A part made in Monterrey can reach a Texas warehouse by truck the same day, while the same part from Shenzhen may spend weeks on a container ship.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer called Mexico one of the "big winners" of American companies diversifying away from China and Asia. Much of that trade rolls through Port Laredo, which handled $354 billion in two-way trade in 2025.

Companies already invested in Mexico are expanding

The stock of US direct investment in Mexico grew from $37.2 billion in 1999 to $169.8 billion in 2025, more than doubling after adjusting for inflation, and Mexico entered the top 10 destinations for foreign direct investment worldwide last year.

Most of the additional money comes from companies that are already in Mexico and doubling down on operations there. Reinvested earnings made up 88.5% of foreign investment in the first half of 2026, which means foreign-owned operations in Mexico are putting their profits back into the plants instead of sending them back home. Those dollars are going where nearshoring needs capacity:

Manufacturing: $13.5 billion, 38.6% of all inflows, led by auto parts, electronics, and machinery.
Electronics and semiconductors: $1.8 billion, nearly triple the first half of 2025.
Transportation and warehousing: $2.7 billion, almost four times the prior year, as logistics networks expand to move goods across the border.

Tariffs are rewarding North American sourcing

Trade policy has added risk, but it has also raised the value of producing in Mexico. Although a 10% US tariff on Mexican imports took effect in July 2026, goods that qualify under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement are exempt from the tariff. 88% of US imports from Mexico qualified between January and May of 2026.

Qualifying depends on how much of a product comes from North America, which gives US companies a reason to buy more of their materials from Mexican and US suppliers instead of Asian ones. The United States declined to renew the USMCA in its current form at the July 1 joint review, so the agreement stays in force through 2036 with annual reviews. The reviews add uncertainty, but the 2026 investment figures suggest companies are adjusting their sourcing rather than leaving.

How Many US Businesses Work With Mexican Suppliers and Contractors?

Nearshoring coverage tends to focus on heavy industries like automakers and chipmakers, but most US companies doing business in Mexico are small. 53,547 US companies shipped goods to Mexico in 2024, more than to any country except Canada. Only about 3,900 of them had 500 or more employees, and over 15,000 had fewer than 20.

A large share of the trade between the US and Mexico comes from production sharing, where one product crosses the border several times before it's finished. About one in six US companies exporting to Mexico also imported from it in 2024, and small and midsize US importers bought $81 billion of Mexican goods on their own.

Where US companies are finding suppliers and talent

Manufacturing in Mexico doesn't require owning a factory there. Mexico had 6,516 plants registered in its IMMEX program as of July 2026, and they exist to import materials duty-free and build goods for export, much of it on contract for US clients.

Services are growing alongside goods. US companies bought $44.0 billion in services from Mexico in 2025, nearly triple the 2006 figure in current dollars. Hiring is climbing too: companies hiring Mexican workers through Deel increased that hiring 53% in 2025, and engineers, salespeople, and marketers in Mexico City and Guadalajara work the same hours as teams in Chicago and Dallas.

What it means for companies sourcing or hiring in Mexico

Company size isn't a barrier: Contract manufacturers and hiring platforms let a 20-person company source and staff in Mexico without opening an office or building a plant.
Supplier relationships are becoming long-term: Production sharing and USMCA content rules reward companies that build Mexican suppliers into their core operations instead of using them for one-off orders.
Hiring follows sourcing: The time zone overlap that makes a Mexican supplier easy to manage also makes Mexico a practical first market for international hires.
Financial tools are a big consideration: Mexican suppliers and contractors often expect to be paid like domestic vendors, in pesos or over SPEI. As more companies work in Mexico for the first time, many of them small, they will need access to tools for plugging into the Mexican financial system for better FX planning.

The standard in finance

Slash goes above with better controls, better rewards, and better support for your business.

Get Started

The Cost of Paying Mexican Suppliers by International Wire

Many US businesses default to using an international wire when sending money abroad. Wires are widely accepted, but they come with fees, delays, and currency costs that can compound, especially when a company regularly sends money across borders. Before defaulting to a wire, it's worth knowing where the costs come from.

Processing fees

Many banks and payment providers charge a steep fee to send an international wire, either a flat fee typically in the $40 to $50 range or a percentage of the payment, which adds up on high-value transfers. Wires also move through correspondent banks, which can deduct their own additional processing fees along the way.

A 2024 survey of payment providers, summarized by the Atlanta Fed, found that cross-border business payments for small and midsize companies cost an average of 1.6% of the amount sent. If you're sending a Mexican supplier $40,000 a month for materials, 1.6% works out to $640 per payment and $7,680 a year for a single supplier.

Speed and predictability

The same Atlanta Fed survey found that only about a third of providers made cross-border retail payments available within an hour, and roughly two-thirds within one business day. Compliance holds or incorrect wire details can stretch that timeline significantly. Wires also stop on weekends and on bank holidays in either country, which can make it hard to time a payment when there's a tight deadline.

Newer payment methods don't have the same scheduling problem, and both of the main ones already reach Mexico. Stablecoins settle around the clock, and SPEI, Mexico's instant payment network, runs 24/7.

FX spread and risk

On top of your bank's processing fees, you're also contending with currency markets. Banks and payment providers generally add a markup to the mid-market exchange rate, so you pay a little extra on every conversion. If the conversion happens on the receiving end, the rate can also move while the payment is in transit, so a delayed payment may be worth more or less than you intended.

Larger companies have teams that manage FX strategy and hedging, but more businesses are turning to alternative payment methods and local rail access for more control over the exchange and payment process.

What Is SPEI and How Does It Work?

SPEI, the Sistema de Pagos Electrónicos Interbancarios, is Mexico's real-time interbank payment system. Banco de México built and operates it, and it runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year, settling peso transfers between Mexican bank accounts in seconds.

Use of SPEI has grown quickly, especially in recent years. SPEI processed more than 7.3 billion transfers in 2025, up 36.8% from 2024, and Banxico expects SPEI to pass credit and debit cards in total transactions by the end of 2026.

How a SPEI payment works

CLABE: Every Mexican bank account has an 18-digit Clave Bancaria Estandarizada that encodes the bank and account. The sender needs only the CLABE, the amount, and a payment reference.
Settlement: Funds move between accounts in near real time, including nights, weekends, and holidays.
Proof of payment: Each transfer carries a tracking key, and Banxico issues an electronic payment receipt, the CEP, that both sides can use to confirm settlement.
Currency: SPEI moves Mexican pesos only.

Why SPEI matters for US companies paying suppliers

For a Mexican supplier, a SPEI payment is the same as being paid by a domestic customer. The pesos land in the account they already use, with a reference number their accounts receivable team can match, and no incoming wire fee or conversion at their bank.

The barrier for US companies has been access. SPEI connects Mexican financial institutions, so a US business historically needed a Mexican bank account, a local subsidiary, or a payments provider with its own connection to send a peso payment over the rail. Slash gives US businesses a direct route: companies can send pesos over SPEI from their Slash business account to a supplier's CLABE just as simply as sending a wire.

How to Pay Suppliers in Mexico: Comparing Your Options

The right method depends on what currency the supplier wants, how often you pay them, and how much the timing matters to production. Many US companies with Mexican suppliers may end up using more than one.

Method	Supplier receives	Typical speed	Primary costs and fees	Best fit
International wire in USD	US dollars	1 to 3 business days	Wire fee, intermediary deductions, supplier's bank converts	Suppliers that hold USD accounts and price in dollars
International wire in MXN	Pesos	1 to 3 business days	Wire fee, sending bank's FX markup	Occasional large payments
Local rails over SPEI	Pesos	Same day; SPEI settles in seconds	Exchange rate and provider fee	Recurring supplier and contractor payments
Stablecoins (USDC/USDT)	Digital dollars	Minutes, any day	Network, platform and conversion fees	Counterparties already with a wallet or provider to hold and convert crypto

A few questions can help narrow the choice of which rail to use:

Does the supplier invoice in pesos or dollars? If they bill in dollars, a wire may be the simplest option. If they bill in pesos, paying a wire in pesos works too. Paying over SPEI, however, skips the correspondent banks and lands the same day, and you can see the rate before you send.
How often do you pay? A one-time $200,000 equipment purchase can absorb a $45 wire fee. Recurring payments are different: paying contractors by wire every few weeks can raise costs dramatically over a year. Working out an arrangement to move those payments to local rails or stablecoins may be a better option.
Who carries the exchange rate? When you wire dollars, the supplier's bank sets the rate, and suppliers often price that cost into their quotes. Paying in pesos makes the full cost of each invoice visible to you instead.

Paying Mexican Suppliers in Pesos With Slash

If your company buys parts from a plant in Nuevo León or pays developers in Mexico City, you can send pesos over SPEI directly from your Slash business account. Your supplier receives MXN in their own Mexican bank account, addressed by CLABE, the same way a domestic customer would pay them.

SPEI payments: Send and receive pesos over SPEI, so you can pay Mexican suppliers and contractors over local rails instead of an international wire and get paid by Mexican customers the same way.
SWIFT wires: Send and receive international wires in USD over the SWIFT network for $25 when old reliable is the right choice.
Stablecoin payments: Send and receive USDC and USDT across 15 blockchains, an option for suppliers and contractors already set up to accept digital dollars.⁴
Approval controls: Built-in approval controls route transfers to your international partners through the right reviewer on your team before they go out.
Accounting sync: Slash connects with QuickBooks Online, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and DualEntry, so you can choose the depth of sync your multicurrency operations need.

On the flip side, Mexican suppliers that sell to US customers often need a place to hold dollars. The Slash Global Account is open to businesses in more than 130 countries without a US entity, and it holds funds in USDC, a dollar-backed stablecoin. Global Accounts come with direct access to the US ACH system, Fedwire, and the Slash Global Card to make spending from the account more accessible. It also supports SPEI, so it works easily alongside a Mexican bank account.

If Mexico is becoming a bigger part of how you source or hire, sign up for Slash today to start paying suppliers and contractors in pesos over SPEI.