Authorities in the United States and Mexico announced measures Wednesday aimed at curbing imports of metals from China and other countries that ship products through Mexico to circumvent tariffs.
The White House said that under a new policy implemented by President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, steel and aluminum products imported from Mexico will be subject to 25% U.S. “Section 232” tariffs unless the steel is documented to have been melted and poured in Mexico, the U.S. or Canada.
“Mexico and the United States are taking key measures today to protect the North American steel and aluminum markets from unfair trade,” Presidents Biden and Lopez Obrador said in a joint statement issued by the White House. “Both countries will implement policies to jointly prevent tariff evasion on steel and aluminum, and strengthen North American steel and aluminum supply chains (Mexico, United States, and Canada).”
Related: Mexican government to drop planned import ban on genetically modified US corn
The new tariffs on steel are meant to address the evasion of tariffs by China, the largest producer of steel in the world. The aluminum taxes would also hit production based in China, Belarus, Iran and Russia.
Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), praised the new tariffs. Washington D.C.-based AAM is a nonprofit, nonpartisan partnership formed in 2007 to strengthen American manufacturing and create new private-sector jobs through public policies.
“We know Beijing is using countries like Mexico to dodge U.S. tariffs, including duties specifically put into place to deter China’s massive industrial overcapacity,” Paul said in a news release. “China and other nations must not be allowed to exploit trade with our neighbors in order to avoid U.S. trade enforcement.”
The U.S. imported $6.1 billion in steel products in the 12 months ending in February 2023,with only 3% of those imports coming from China, according to Census Bureau figures analyzed by the Associated Press.
In 2023, the U.S. imported almost $3 billion worth of steel, aluminum and other metals from Mexico through the port of entry in Laredo, Texas.
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