Exporting From Mexico to the U.S.: The Export Pedimento and the Data That Decide a Same-Day Crossing

"The permanent export regime consists of the departure of goods from national territory to remain abroad for an unlimited time."

Ley Aduanera, Article 102 (our translation)

Mexico's Ley Aduanera, the country's Customs Law, defines a permanent export in one line. The operation it describes is decided in one document: the export pedimento, Mexico's customs declaration. Through it, the exporter and its customs broker tell the Mexican customs office what is leaving, what it is worth, who bought it, under which permits and on which truck. A permanent export is filed under customs regime code A1 of Appendix 2 to Anexo 22 of the RGCE, Mexico's general foreign trade rules, the same code used for permanent imports and covered in our guide to pedimento regime codes.

For a produce exporter or a manufacturing plant exporting from Mexico to the United States by truck, the Mexican pedimento is half of the crossing. The other half is the entry that the U.S. customs broker transmits to CBP before the truck reaches the bridge. Both declarations describe the same load with data generated at the exporter's plant: tariff classification, value and invoice, USMCA origin and the permits the product requires. When that data is complete and consistent before the load leaves, a same-day crossing is the normal outcome of the operation. When one piece is missing, the wait builds up on whichever side of the border detects it.

What the export pedimento declares

Article 36-A, section II, of the Ley Aduanera sets the two attachments of an export pedimento, both transmitted electronically. The first is the value and commercial data contained in the CFDI, Mexico's electronic tax invoice, or an equivalent document. The second is the evidence of compliance with non-tariff regulations and restrictions on exports, provided they are published in the DOF, Mexico's federal gazette, and identified by tariff classification.

In practice, the first attachment is an invoice with its own requirements. When a permanent export under code A1 covers a sale, the CFDI carries the Complemento de Comercio Exterior, the foreign trade supplement to the invoice, and the invoice's tax folio is declared in the pedimento under rule 3.1.35 of the RGCE for 2026. Article 59, section III, of the Ley Aduanera completes the picture: on exports, the value declaration is supported by that same tax invoice. The electronic invoice that the exporter's billing team issues works as its value declaration before Mexican customs.

The charges on an export pedimento are few and mostly fixed. The general export duty is set by the Mexican tariff schedule under the LIGIE, and for the great majority of tariff lines the export column reads exempt. The Customs Processing Fee (DTA) on exports is a flat amount under Article 49 of the Ley Federal de Derechos, Mexico's Federal Fees Law: 463 pesos in 2026, according to Annex 4 of the 2026 Miscellaneous Tax Resolution. Pre-validation adds 350 pesos plus VAT per pedimento, as we detail in our guide to reading a Mexican customs broker quote. The sale itself is taxed at a 0% VAT rate: Article 29 of Mexico's VAT Law applies that rate to goods whose export qualifies as permanent under the Ley Aduanera. Every export pedimento is therefore the evidence behind any VAT refund the company files.

The tax cost of an export pedimento is low and predictable: a duty that is almost always exempt, a flat fee and a zero rate. Its weight sits in the information. The pedimento depends on documents produced by several teams at the exporter (billing, product engineering, quality and logistics) and on documents issued by third parties (the Ministry of Economy, SENASICA, the carrier and, on the other side, the importer). Delays on a permanent export almost always trace back to one of those documents.

Classification and value: the two data points that travel to both sides of the bridge

The Mexican tariff code has eight digits, plus the two digits of the NICO, Mexico's commercial identification number. The U.S. classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule has ten. Both share the first six digits of the Harmonized System, and that overlap is the first consistency test between the export pedimento and the U.S. entry. If the pedimento places a product in one chapter and the invoice the U.S. broker receives describes it under a code from another chapter, one of the two authorities will ask. Our guides on how to read a Mexican tariff code and the NICO explain how each level is built.

Classification also decides which regulations apply. Article 36-A identifies non-tariff regulations by tariff classification, so a classification error on an export can skip a permit the correct code required, or trigger one the product never needed. Either way, the pedimento declares something different from what is in the trailer.

Value follows the same logic. The CFDI with its foreign trade supplement records the goods, quantity, unit of measure, value and the buyer abroad. The commercial invoice the U.S. importer presents to CBP describes the same sale. Quantity, unit, description and value have to match across four documents: the CFDI, the packing list, the pedimento and the invoice used on the U.S. side.

Across the more than 190,000 customs operations we handle each year at more than 39 ports, the export discrepancies that repeat most have two sources. The first is unit conversion: cases on the packing list, kilograms as the tariff unit and pieces on the customer's invoice. The second is commercial descriptions that the sales team writes for the buyer and that customs needs in technical terms. Both get fixed at the plant, with the product's technical sheet and the packing list next to the invoice, before the pedimento is transmitted.

USMCA origin: the certification the exporter signs and the importer claims

USMCA preference is claimed in the United States, on the importer's entry. Article 5.2 of the agreement's Chapter 5 lets the importer base that claim on a certification of origin completed by the exporter, the producer or the importer itself. The certification can take any format, including the invoice, as long as it contains the nine minimum data elements of Annex 5-A: who certifies, the exporter, producer and importer details, the description and tariff classification of the goods, the origin criterion, the blanket period, and signature and date. It can cover a single shipment or multiple shipments of identical goods over a period of up to twelve months.

For a Mexican exporter who signs that certification, the obligation outlasts the shipment. Article 5.8 requires it to keep the records showing the goods are originating for at least five years from the date of the certification. Article 5.9 allows the importing country's authority to send it questionnaires or visit its premises to verify. Origin data, then, is built at the plant: the bill of materials, the origin of each input and the product-specific rule of origin that applies to the tariff classification under Chapter 4 of the agreement.

The two segments that export most under the permanent regime prepare for this differently. Produce harvested in Mexico usually qualifies as wholly obtained, and its origin file documents the place of production and lot traceability. Manufactured goods usually qualify through a tariff shift or regional value content, and their file depends on the bill of materials and supplier declarations. We analyze the growth in USMCA claims and the verification that follows in our piece on why USMCA claims nearly doubled.

If you want to confirm that your export file holds up to a document review in Mexico and an origin verification in the United States, talk to a Joffroy expert about an export file review.

Export permits: what the product requires according to its tariff classification

The second attachment of the pedimento, covering non-tariff regulations and restrictions, draws on three main sources, and each one is identified by tariff classification.

Ministry of Economy. Annex 2.2.1 of the Ministry of Economy's general foreign trade rules and criteria, published in the DOF on May 9, 2022, lists the tariff classifications whose export requires a prior permit or an automatic export notice. The most visible agricultural case is fresh tomatoes. Since September 8, 2025, the agreement published in the DOF on September 2, 2025 conditions the automatic export notice for tomatoes on active registration in the National Registry of Fresh Tomato Exporters and on SENASICA's notice of adherence to its Contamination Risk Reduction Systems program, plus a sworn statement that the export price meets the minimum price in force. A packer shipping tomatoes without all three in order has no notice, and without the notice the export cannot clear.

Sector-Specific Exporter Registry. Article 59, section IV, of the Ley Aduanera requires anyone exporting the goods listed in section II of Anexo 10 of the RGCE for 2026, published in the DOF on January 14, 2026, to register. It covers fifteen sectors: the first seven tied to goods subject to IEPS, Mexico's special tax on production and services, such as alcoholic beverages, and the rest with their own requirements, including iron ore, gold, silver and copper, and plastics. SAT resolves the registration request within ten business days at most, a lead time worth building into the calendar of any first shipment. We cover the metals case in our piece on the sector-specific export registry for gold, silver and copper.

Plant health. SENASICA, Mexico's agrifood health and safety agency, issues the International Phytosanitary Certificate for plant products when the importing country requires it, and the importing country sets the requirements. For the United States, the reference is the USDA APHIS Fruits and Vegetables Import Requirements database, which shows by product and country of origin whether the goods enter subject to inspection, require a certificate or must receive a treatment. Since May 2026, the Mexican side of that process runs through the Single Window for Foreign Trade Procedures enabled by the decree published in the DOF on May 4, 2026.

Manufacturing exporters usually face fewer requirements of this kind, and review them less often as a result. The review still matters for plastics, metals and minerals, and for any new product that moves to a different tariff classification. If the goods were made with inputs temporarily imported under IMMEX, Mexico's manufacturing and export program, their departure is declared as a return abroad under a different code, a regime we compare in our guide to Mexico's six customs regimes.

From pedimento to bridge: the order in which each data point closes

Once the pedimento is validated and paid, the customs broker generates the DODA, the clearance operation document that carries the integration number issued by the electronic customs system under rule 3.1.33 of the RGCE for 2026. The DODA is presented at the crossing, where the automated selection system (red or green light) under Article 43 of the Ley Aduanera decides whether the load is released or goes to customs examination. The trip to the port of entry travels under a CFDI that carries the Complemento Carta Porte, Mexico's mandatory bill of lading supplement to the carrier's tax invoice, and the 2026 Miscellaneous Tax Resolution includes a specific rule for exporters moving their own goods with their own trucks to a warehouse abroad.

On the U.S. side, the clock runs before the truck arrives. The carrier must have its ACE e-Manifest accepted at least one hour before reaching the first U.S. port of arrival, or thirty minutes if the shipment qualifies for FAST, under 19 CFR 123.92. If the load is food, FDA must have confirmed the prior notice at least two hours before arrival by road, under 21 CFR 1.279. The U.S. customs broker transmits the entry tied to that manifest, with the commercial invoice, the HTS code and the USMCA claim.

The table reads top to bottom, and each row depends on the one before it. A CFDI corrected after the pedimento was transmitted forces an amended entry, with its own Customs Processing Fee. A certification of origin that arrives after the manifest is in ACE leaves the importer with two options: pay the general duty rate or wait. A same-day crossing is won in the first three rows.

The file that stays in Mexico

The goods leave to remain abroad for an unlimited time. The file that moved them stays in Mexico, and since January 1, 2026 the law spells out what it must contain. Article 59, section V, of the Ley Aduanera requires anyone who exports goods to build an electronic file for each pedimento, with its attachments and acknowledgments, and to keep it as part of its accounting records for the periods set by Mexico's Federal Tax Code, which under its Article 30 is five years as a general rule. The same article requires the file to evidence the transaction: the CFDIs, commercial invoices, payment transfers or letters of credit, freight and insurance costs, the sales contracts and any other document the rules specify, such as rule 3.1.42 of the RGCE for 2026.

That file is what gets pulled when SAT reviews a VAT refund, when the importing country's authority verifies origin and when an audit asks about an export from four years ago. It is built at the same moment as the pedimento, from the same documents, and filed with the pedimento number as its key.

At Joffroy, with three Mexican customs broker licenses in Monterrey, Nogales and Manzanillo and a U.S. corporate customs broker license, the Mexican export and the U.S. entry are prepared under one operation and from the same data. That is the practical reason we review the tariff classification, the CFDI, the certification of origin and the permits for a shipment before the load leaves the customer's plant, and file the record under the same key on both sides.

Four data points to close at the plant

A same-day crossing is decided before the truck pulls out. Before your next permanent export from Mexico to the U.S., confirm four points:

1. Classification. Mexican tariff code and NICO confirmed against the product's technical sheet, with its six-digit match in the HTS code the importer will use in the United States.
2. Value and invoice. CFDI with its foreign trade supplement reconciled against the packing list and the commercial invoice: same quantities, same units, same description and same value.
3. Origin. USMCA certification of origin signed and current for the shipment's period, backed by the origin file you would need to show in a verification.
4. Permits. Notices, permits, sector registry status and plant health certificates the tariff classification requires, active on the shipping date, which can fall weeks after the paperwork was filed.

The load leaves for an unlimited time. The data that moved it stays for five years, and it is the same data that decided, that morning, whether it crossed the same day.

This is how we prepare permanent exports at Joffroy: the file closes at the plant and travels the same way on both sides of the border. If you want to review the file for your next shipments with that standard, talk to a Joffroy expert.

TRADE. UNDER CONTROL.