The Mexico-China Chamber of Commerce and Technology (MEXCHAM) has warned of the potentially negative consequences of introducing high tariffs on Chinese imports for the development and growth of strategic industrial sectors and the supply chains that make products sold from Mexico competitive.
Mexico announced plans on Thursday to introduce duties of up to 50% on cars and other products made by China and other Asian producers with which it does not have a free trade agreement, following mounting pressure from United States President Donald Trump to introduce tariffs on China.
However, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has stressed that the proposed tariffs neither target China nor are the result of U.S. pressure.
China has urged Mexico to reconsider levying higher tariffs.
“Any unilateral tariff increase by Mexico, even within the framework of WTO (World Trade Organization) rules, would be seen as appeasement and compromise toward unilateral bullying,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The proposed tariffs range from 10% to 50% on over 1,300 products and are aimed at protecting national industry, according to the Sheinbaum administration.
Experts consulted by the newspaper Milenio said that at least six key industries would come under threat if tariffs were introduced, as many of their inputs are not manufactured elsewhere in the Americas. These include the automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, telecommunications and clean energy industries.
“Mexico would lose competitiveness in sectors with high substitutability in China,” said the Chief Economist at the brokerage house Valmex, Gerónimo Ugarte Bedwell. “While domestically, it would suffer inflationary and manufacturing cost pressures due to its dependence on Chinese inputs.”
“The Mexican government’s proposal to increase tariffs on key segments, such as parts and components for motorcycles, automobiles, batteries, engines, etc., constitutes a threat… or directly harms the development of the mobility sector, and particularly electric mobility,” Ugarte added.
Ugarte warned that the introduction of tariffs by Mexico could encourage China to introduce retaliatory tariffs on Mexican goods, such as copper ore.
MEXCHAM has called for a reconsideration of the proposed tariffs, suggesting that Mexico should conduct a “very clear” analysis of the country’s concrete options for replacing these high-tech imports in the immediate future.
“Otherwise, we will be canceling any possibility of absorbing, consolidating, and developing technology in the Mexican market for key sectors… that drive inflation control, thereby preserving the remunerative capacity of the minimum wage in Mexico,” MEXCHAM said.
President Sheinbaum has said that while she does not want any conflict with China, she seeks to protect Mexico’s domestic industry through the move. In the first six months of 2025, Mexico attracted US $3 billion in new foreign direct investment and the inflation rate was 3.57% in August.
With reports from Milenio, Bloomberg and La Crónica de Hoy
