MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s Senate on Wednesday (Dec 10) authorized tariff hikes of as much as 50 per cent subsequent yr on imports from China and several other different Asian nations, aiming to bolster native business regardless of opposition from enterprise teams.
The proposal, handed earlier by the decrease home, will elevate or impose new duties of as much as 50 per cent from 2026 on sure items corresponding to autos, auto elements, textiles, clothes, plastics and metal from nations with out commerce offers with Mexico, together with China, India, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.
The vast majority of merchandise will see tariffs of as much as 35 per cent.
The Senate handed the Invoice with 76 votes in favour, 5 towards and 35 abstentions.
The authorized Invoice is softer than one which stalled within the decrease home this autumn, with tariffs on about 1,400 totally different product strains – largely textiles, attire, metal, auto elements, plastics and footwear – and lowered duties on roughly two-thirds of them in contrast with the unique proposal.
CHINA CRITICISES MOVE
China’s Ministry of Commerce responded on Thursday, saying it will monitor Mexico’s new tariff regime and weigh its influence, however warned that such measures would “considerably undermine” the pursuits of commerce.
“China has all the time opposed all types of unilateral tariff will increase and hopes Mexico will right such unilateralist and protectionist practices as quickly as potential,” the commerce ministry mentioned.
When requested at a daily press briefing, a spokesperson for China’s International Affairs Ministry mentioned that “going towards the tide of financial globalisation by pursuing protectionism is detrimental to others and but doesn’t profit oneself”.
