The federal government has implemented new tariffs on hundreds of imports from countries with which it doesn’t have trade agreements, a move that appears mainly directed at China.
In a decree published on Monday, the government said that 5-50% tariffs would apply to 544 products across a range of categories including steel, aluminum, textiles, wood, footwear, plastics, chemicals, paper and cardboard, ceramics, glass, electrical material, transport material, musical instruments and furniture.
The tariffs — which took effect on Tuesday — will apply for two years, according to the decree, which was issued by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O and Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro.
Products from countries with which Mexico has trade agreements — including the United States, Canada, European Union nations and CTPPP signatories such as Australia, Chile, Japan and Vietnam — will not be affected by the new tariffs.
Buenrostro said Tuesday that the government’s aim is to “prevent unfair competition.”
“We have seen a lot of products coming [into the country] … at a very low price and displacing our national producers,” she said at a Council of the Americas event in Mexico City.
“… The prices for the public don’t go down, but [cheap imports] are displacing textile makers, footwear makers [and other manufacturers],” Buenrostro said.
The economy minister said that the imports of concern come from countries with which Mexico doesn’t have trade agreements. She didn’t specifically mention China but did say that the “undervalued” imports mainly come from Asia.
The government’s decree said that the decision to implement the tariffs — most of which were set between 25% and 35% — was made in consideration of a range of things, including the need to “provide certainty and fair-market conditions to all sectors that face situations of vulnerability, in order to allow the recovery of national industry, promote its development and support the internal market.”
It also said that the federal government has an “obligation to implement the necessary mechanisms that generate stability in national industry sectors and that allow trade distortions to be eliminated.”
In addition, the decree said that “due to the growing implementation of new trade models at the global level, such as the case of relocation (nearshoring), … it is necessary to implement concrete actions that allow a balanced interaction in the market, to avoid economic distortions that could affect the relocation of productive sectors that are considered strategic for the country.”
The government also said that the tariffs were aimed at “maintaining the competitiveness of the most sensitive industrial sectors, such as the electric, electronics, automotive and auto parts” industries.
The tariffs’ implementation comes after the Economy Ministry last month imposed tariffs on steel nails and steel balls from China.
López Obrador said in late March that steel-related issues were not weighing on Mexico’s trade relationships with the United States and China, and asserted that the government didn’t want to get involved in any kind of “war, not even a trade one.”
He also said that Chinese investment in Mexico — which has been on the rise — “will continue.”
‘For China, with dislike’
In an opinion piece headlined “For China, with dislike: 544 tariffs,” the newspaper El Economista’s editorial director Luis Miguel González argued that Mexico’s implementation of the 5% to 50% duties was motivated by its desire to not upset the United States.
“In the marriage between Mexico and the United States, there is no place for a Chinese lover,” the economist and journalist began his column, published Wednesday.
“With a magnifying glass, Uncle Sam is reviewing Mexico’s relationship with the dragon. Our main trade partner has become increasingly possessive. It asks us for ‘proof of love’ over and over again. It offers us nearshoring as a prize,” González wrote.
He wrote that the United States has become “very demanding,” noting that U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen earlier this year “asked Mexico to create an authority to review foreign investment that arrives to Mexico.”
González also pointed out that U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai raised concerns about the possible entry to the United States of Chinese steel “disguised” as Mexican steel, and that Donald Trump “threatened to impede the entry of Chinese cars [to the U.S.] if they’re made in Mexico.”
“The demands don’t stop, and the Mexican government doesn’t want to place its marriage at risk. It’s doing the right thing. In that sense, we can understand the Economy Ministry’s recent decision to impose tariffs on 544 products, among which are footwear, plastic, electric material, musical instruments, furniture … and steel,” he wrote.
González noted that the Economy Ministry has been “careful” in its use of language by not specifically mentioning China, saying only that the tariffs would apply to imports from countries with which Mexico doesn’t have trade agreements.
“Why do we know that the measure refers to China? A clue … is that the majority of affected products … [are] considerable imports from China. … The highest tariff, of 50%, corresponds to products made with steel,” he wrote.
The El Economista managing editor noted that the new tariffs’ implementation was applauded by Mexico’s Confederation of Industrial Chambers, which said in a statement that the move “doesn’t constitute a protectionist measure but rather a necessary action to create a ‘level playing field'” by combating “unfair practices like dumping and subsidies.”
In closing, González questioned whether the U.S. will be satisfied with the “proof of love” Mexico is offering.
A partial answer will arrive “in the coming weeks,” he wrote without elaborating on that prediction.
“It’s not a matter of Republicans or Democrats. Biden and Trump can be like water and oil on many issues, but on trade, they’re both protectionists, and on … China they share the diagnosis [that] it is Uncle Sam’s main competitor for global economic hegemony,” González said.
He noted that former Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo, now a member of presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez’s campaign team, has predicted that China will be “the main issue” when Mexico, the United States and Canada review their free trade agreement, the USMCA, in 2026.
“Continuing the amasiato [concubinage or partnership] with the dragon appears difficult,” González wrote. “Are we prepared to uncouple ourselves from China, even just a little bit?”
With reports from El Economista and Reforma
I think “bending” isn’t the right word when countries are supposed to be partners. Mexico is the US main supplier of goods with close to half trillion USD in exports in 2023. Laredo is the busiest and largest port of entry for imported goods into the United States. AMLO tactics are pure posturing, just yesterday Mexico allowed entry to 500 US army soldiers for “training purposes”. China will try everything to move production capacity closer to the US but Mexico is already taking measures to protect it’s own industry.
Well, it’s getting late (11:15 p.m.) and I probably need to go to bed and reread more of this article later.
But so far, it seems to be that China wants to relocate and establish manufacturing and distribution channels in Mexico as near-shoring to Western Hemisphere markets, including dumping into the U.S. and Canada, of course.
China’s move likely is to take advantage of the new NAFTA and to avoid the bottlenecks and closed ports created by pandemics such as COVID 19. And to take advantage of Mexico’s skilled less costly labor.
To many, this seems to be just another maneuver by the Chinese government to undercut the U.S. economy by dumping more subsidized cars, other whole products and goods to the detriment to the overall manufacturing/smelting/etc. competitiveness.
Less expensive to buy cars, toasters, microsove ovens, steel, you name it.
Tariffs on Chinese goods means higher prices for Mexicans
Yes exactly! It is going to hit the poorest most !
No it means lost jobs and industries. Look at the US and Canada, those cheap Chinese goods have caused millions to lose their jobs. It doesn’t help poor Mexicans to pay a few pesos less but they can’t get good paying jobs. This argument has long ago been disproven.
I assume that these tariffs will apply to cars and trucks, which are showing up on Mexican roads at an incredible rate. Chinese government subsidies allow dealers to undercut cars from other countries (including Mexico), and it really is unfair competition. I’m not a tariff fan, but this is a proper reason to apply them. Yes, it might mean some things cost more; it should also mean a lot more Mexicans will have money with which to buy them.
Exactly. There is always someone willing to sell at practically no profit, in order to break into a market and disrupt the profits of an established business.
Yes, higher prices for both Mexicans and Americans. The US subsidizes agriculture, US-made electric vehicles, etc. and US coporations engage in inflationary price-goughing while having exorbitant compensation packages for their executives. Tariffs help then to continue in this way without have to become more efficient or having to lower prices to compete globally.
The corporations that run the US claim to believe in free trade but only as long as is benefits them. They believe in lower taxes for themselves but having a tax (in the form of a tariff) so consumers have to pay more is great for them because it gives them room to increase their prices even more.
Just because the US does it doesn’t mean Mexico can. Also, another wrong doesn’t make it right. Good for AMLO, I don’t often agree with him but he’s protecting Mexicans.
Mexico should fight for sovereignty over its trade policy and not allow itself to be pressured by the US. It’s unfair to make hard-working Mexicans pay up to 50% higher prices for things that are already quite expensive in Mexico, like clothes and shoes. I think the US just wants Mexico to buy those things from US companies at very high prices (keep in mind the US just reported much lower GDP than expected for the first quarter, party because of an import/export imbalance, and so will be looking to force its “partners” to subsidize its industries…)
The US, Mexico, Canada trade treaties have made Mexico one of the richest countries in the world and moving into the top ten in 2025. Just to start: 1. $68 billion of ingresos from Mexican workers to thier families in Mexico. 2.Thousands of new factories to build cars and electronics whose workers make the highest wages in Mexico. 3. far looser standards for Mexicans to get 5 year visas into the USA because they have money and relatives in the USA. 4. USA and MX are the world’s largest trade partners due to the trade agreement.5. Without US tourism, much of Mexico would go into a depression.
Mexico and the USA have tied themselves to each other for mutual prosperity. There should be no cry babies.
Worth repeating from above, “AMLO tactics are pure posturing, just yesterday Mexico allowed entry to 500 US army soldiers for “training purposes”. China will try everything to move production capacity closer to the US but Mexico is already taking measures to protect it’s own industry.”
The Chinese do not believe in free or fair trade. Much of what they export is till trash.
Prior NAFTA’s and now the USMCA regional trade agreements continue to have an immense impact on modernizing Mexico economy and increasing prosperity for it citizens and residents. China is desperate to maintain and expand its trade relationship with the US, and access through the USMCA with investments in Mexico is clearly one avenue.
Imposing tariffs by Mexico on many Chinese exports into Mexico probably will incentivize China to depreciate its currency against the Peso and accelerate Chinese investments in manufacturing in Mexico. If AMLO’s (and soon Sheinbaum’s) goal is to maintain and grow well-paying jobs in Mexico this makes sense. The risk as others have pointed out is alienating its US economic partner who in turn could impose trade restrictions on Chinese goods made in Mexico. I guess we’ll just have to see how this plays out over the coming years.