Venue: Club Deportivo la Asunción, Metepec, Mexico (outdoor hard)
Date: 6–11 February
The nine teams were divided into two pools of four and five teams. The two pool winners took part in a play-off to determine the nation advancing to the World Group II Play-offs. The four nations finishing last and second last in their pools took part in relegation play-offs, with the two losing nations being relegated to Group II for 2018.
Seeding: The seeding was based on the Fed Cup Rankings of 14 November 2016 (shown in parentheses below).
Mexico and Bolivia were relegated to Americas Zone Group II in 2018.
Group II[]
Venue: Centro de Alto Rendimiento Fred Maduro, Panama City, Panama (outdoor clay)
Date: 19–22 July
The thirteen teams were divided into three pools of three teams and one pool of four teams. The four pool winners took part in a play-off to determine the two nations advancing to Group I in 2018.
Seeding: The seeding was based on the Fed Cup Rankings of 24 April 2017 (shown in parentheses below).