Mexico targets over 1,400 products from Asia with tariffs up to 50%

The products include textiles, shoes, plastics, light vehicles and auto parts.

China will be the most hit as Mexico imported $130 billion worth of products from there in 2024, next only to what it imported from the United States. Other top countries hit will be South Korea, Thailand, India, Turkiye, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia, the country’s Economy Ministry said in a document.

The taxes were announced in the budget, which is expected to pass easily through Mexico’s Congress, where the ruling party holds majorities in both the houses.

The plan will affect 8.6 per cent of all imports, the document said, and will protect 325,000 industrial and manufacturing jobs that were at risk. Textiles will see levies between 10 per cent and 50 per cent.

Mexico has been under pressure from the US administration to limit Chinese imports, some of which, the United States alleged, use Mexico as a backdoor to the US market.

However, Sheinbaum, who met with US secretary of state Marco Rubio last week in Mexico City, said the tariffs are not the result of US pressure, but rather are aimed at spurring domestic production, according to global newswires.

Mexico’s Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard said the measures, which come just within limits imposed by the World Trade Organization, are aimed at protecting domestic jobs as Chinese cars were entering the domestic market "below what we call reference prices”.

China firmly opposes being coerced by others, and restrictions imposed under ‘various pretexts’, its Foreign Ministry said.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)