Peña Nieto Government applied similar mirror response in 2018

Alejandro Alegría

La Jornada newspaper
Saturday, February 1, 2025, p. 4

The last time that the United States applied tariffs to Mexican export products occurred in June 2018, measured tariff reprisals in sensitive products for that country as a response from the Mexican government at that time.

For 11 months, Mexico taxed with a higher tax 71 US merchandise such as Arán; Red Danes, Popes, Pork, Hams, cheeses, apples and whiskey, tubes, sheets, among others (among others (https://shorturl.at/tyaxv).

The measure entered into force on June 5, 2018, in retaliation to the decision of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, in his first period, of applying rates of 25 and 10 percent, respectively, to the steel and the aluminum of Mexico , although it also applied the measure to Canada and countries of the European Union. On that occasion, Trump invoked the application of the fees under section 232 of his commercial law.

At the time, the Ministry of Economy (SE) said that it suspended Preferential tariff treatment that since 2003 they had 71 merchandise native to the United States, regardless of the country of origin.

The mirror measure imposed by the government of Enrique Peña Nieto also specified that the suspension of preferential tariff treatment to the goods from the United States would conclude once President Trump stopped applying fees to aluminum and steel products that were exported to territory American, which happened on May 20, 2019.

The reprisal strategy launched by the SE to certain US products, among which agricultural ones, was decisive for decision -making in the United States to press the Trump administration so that it eliminated the measure 232 to steel and aluminum from Mexicosaid the agency, whose head was Graciela Márquez, already at the beginning of the sexennium of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (https://shorturl.at/vgby).

According to experts in economics, the effects of tariffs imposed in 2018 to Mexico caused the increase in products such as washing machines, although Trump’s advisors have denied the above.