Mexico will defend the duties it imposed to the imports of US steel into the country, an official said after the US opened on Thursday a consultation at the World Trade Organization (WTO), asking Mexico for more details on the tariffs.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, Mexico applied duties ranging to up to 25 percent on certain steel imports from the US.
“If the US can’t exclude us (from the steel tariffs), it would have to offer equivalent benefits to the duties they want to impose,” said Juan Carlos Baker, sub-secretary of Mexico’s economy secretariat, SE.
“None of this happened. So, should it be WTO or NAFTA related, we defend that what the US did with (Mexico’s) steel exports is illegal,” he said.
In a letter sent to the Mexican government through the WTO, the US argued “the additional duties measure does not impose the increased duties on like products originating in the territory of any other WTO Member, and thus appears inconsistent with the most-favored nation obligation in Article I of the GATT 1994.”
Recently, Trump said the US wanted to improve bilateral relations with Mexico, as Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will assume office as Mexico’s new president.