Mexico introduces higher tariffs on Chinese goods in bid to bolster nearshoring

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From now on, over 500 categories of products imported to Mexico from China will face a tariff increase ranging between 5% and 50% as Mexican authorities attempt to bolster and protect domestic industries.

The government of Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador approved the imposition of two years of levies on 544 tariff items on shipments from countries with which Mexico does not have a trade agreement, especially India and China. According to the Federal Administration, this decision seeks to protect national productive sectors, as well as foster the arrival of new companies to Mexico – a practice known as nearshoring.

This measure seeks to provide relief for Mexican companies, which according to the Government, have been hit by the slowdown in world economic trade during the last five years; therefore, it is expected that with these new conditions there will be greater certainty and fairness in the market conditions they face.

Additionally, the new tariff barrier has behind it a serious trade deficit between Mexico and China, which by the end of 2023, exceeded US $104 billion in imbalance. Mexico’s Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin) has warned that last year alone, for every dollar Mexico exported to China, the Asian country sent 11.4 dollars to Mexico. 

Among the products included in this new ruling are steel sheets, aluminum rods, wood, textiles, footwear, plastics, chemical products, electrical material, furniture, and musical instruments, among several others. 

Steel sheets and aluminum rods were a key element within the agreement, as a few months ago Mexico was strongly accused of importing steel from China in order to sell it on to other countries with which it has an Free Trade Agreement, as is the case of the United States through the T-MEC.

In fact, some experts believe that this new tariff is the result of pressure exerted by the United States in order to stop the entry of Chinese goods into the North American region.

Mexico’s secretary of economy, Raquel Buenrostro, justified the measure in view of the proliferation of unfair trade practices. “We have observed many products that come undervalued, at very low prices that are displacing our national producers and our small industry, and at the end of the day the final beneficiary does not see these savings because they arrive at normal prices”, she recently stated in a forum in Mexico City, as quoted in El País.

Main source:

México planta cara a las importaciones asiáticas para favorecer el ‘nearshoring’  | El País. (April 24, 2024).

Others related source:

Aumenta México aranceles a China y países sin tratado hasta en 50%  | El Universal (April 22, 2024)

Aumenta México aranceles temporales, entre 5% y 50%, a China y países sin tratado comercial | Aristegui Noticias (April 23, 2024).

¿Puede México convertirse en la nueva China? | The Logistics World (April 18, 2024).