Mexico will soon extend an existing 15 percent import tariff over certain steel products for six more months, a government official said this week.
According to the country’s foreign trade director general, Juan Diaz Mazadiego, the measure should soon be announced, as the existing decision applied in April had already expired. The country’s economy secretariat, SE, plans to renew the 15 percent tariff for imports of slab, CRC, HRC, heavy plate and wire rod from other countries, especially from China.
AHMSA’s president, Alonso Ancira Elizondo, said the measure should allow the steelmaker invest $680 million in the next 18 months. “[AHMSA] should enter at full speed into the specialty steel market and the automotive industry,” he said.
The extending of the 15 percent provisional tariff is valid not only for Chinese steel exporters, but also for imports of steel coming from other countries that do not have trade agreements with Mexico.