AHMSA spokesman Francisco Orduña said that the company will lay off an additional 4,000 workers unless the Mexican government imposes a tariff on “unfairly traded” steel imports.
In a media interview this week, Orduña said that he hoped company executives would reach an agreement with the Minister of Economy, Ildefonso Guajardo, on measures to be taken to curb unfair practices during their meeting Wednesday.
The steel producer dismissed 4,500 employees in June to mitigate the 40 percent drop in steel prices during the first five months of the year. Without a temporary tariff to all countries “without free trade treaties with Mexico,” AHMSA will reportedly have no recourse but to expand the layoffs by the end of July.
"We hope that today will be a solution, with prevailing interest in defending the good jobs in Mexico, not the bad jobs in China," said Orduña.