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Mexico Planning to Expand Retaliatory Tariffs on US

March 15, 2019 |Top News

The Mexican government is considering adding new products to a list of U.S. goods that face higher tariffs in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. During a March 6 meeting "of the Foreign Trade Commission of the Mexican Senate, Luz Maria de la Mora-Sanchez, Foreign Trade Undersecretary of Mexico’s Ministry of Economy, announced that the Mexican government is planning to include additional items on its list of U.S. products subject to retaliatory measures," law firm Thompson Hine said in a blog post. The additional goods may be finalized by April, Thompson Hine said.

Mexico implemented retaliatory tariffs in June 2018 after the U.S. increased tariffs on foreign aluminum and steel. The U.S. tariffs followed a Section 232 investigation into national security concerns related to imports of the metals. Despite progress toward updating NAFTA through the so-called U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the U.S. has not lifted the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum from Mexico or Canada.

Mexico continues to object to the notion that U.S. imports of the metals from Mexico constitute a national security threat. "Although Mexican government efforts are focused on the elimination of the Section 232 tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum and Mexico’s corresponding retaliatory measures, the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is reviewing the list of 71 HTS codes (covering U.S. imports worth approximately $3 billion) currently subject to retaliatory tariffs in order to include new items that could be subject to a 7 to 25 percent ad valorem duty," the law firm said.

Mexico issued the current list on June 5, 2018. As part of the retaliation, Mexico suspended NAFTA benefits for the items on the list and added tariffs of 7 percent, 10 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent or 25 percent. The currently affected 8-digit subheadings fall in the following chapters and headings (note that not all subheadings would necessarily be covered in the headings listed below):