The government announced the measure for more than 100 tariff fractions that include rolled steel, rod and tubes, among others, in a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette on Monday night.
The document indicates that in an international economic context of recovery from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the local steel industry “requires a period of adjustment that allows it to resort to the necessary legal instruments against unfair trade practices.”
This, in order to establish conditions for the reactivation of the sector, added the decree.
Mexico had imposed tariffs following the decision in March 2018 by then US President Donald Trump to set tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum for national security reasons under the so-called “Section 232.”
The measure, which affected both Canada and Mexico and threatened negotiations on the modernization of the North American free trade agreement, now TMEC, was suspended after the United States lifted taxes on its trading partners.
The Ministry of Economy did not immediately reply to a Reuters query on whether the new tariffs would affect the United States and Canada, its partners in the TMEC.
