Mexico is considering additional measures to protect its domestic steel market, an official from the nation’s economy secretariat, SE, said this week.
According to Ildefonso Villarreal, Mexico’s secretary of economy, the nation is already analysing the size of the impact of imports from China, and is expected to take additional measures soon.
Villarreal also suggested those measures could be taken along with other Nafta members.
“We're analyzing it. The healthier measure would be a regional one, one for North America, but such a decision should take place through a safeguarding [measure],” the official indicated, while referring to the NAFTA trade bloc.
“This [decision] should be taken integrally by Canada, the US and Mexico, but we’re also analysing independent measures as well." The SE representative said Mexico could act alone in case a regional move delays to take place or isn’t “conceptually ready.” “We’d need to do that by ourselves,” he explained.
Despite not specifying which measures Mexico could in fact take, SE’s secretary indicated the Spanish-speaking nation could include other steel products not covered in a recent 15 percent provisional tariff applied for certain steel imports.
“By not covering other products…Mexico is meeting [its demand] by imports, more than it does with the domestic product.”
SE said it should release more details about its analysis in January, when it should review the potential additional measures it could take, in case the flooding of steel imports from other countries, and from China, continues.