If President Donald Trump maintains the 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports and adds tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products, the total tariff would reach 50%.
Mexico exported iron and steel products and their manufactures worth US$ 13.383 billion and 78.1% of these shipments were destined for the United States, according to data from the Mexican Ministry of Economy and the United States Department of Commerce.
Of that total, Mexican exports of foundry, iron and steel amounted to US$ 3,543 million, 89.8% shipped to the US market.
The remainder, corresponding to iron and steel foundry manufactures, totaled US$9.84 billion, with 73.8% sold to the United States.
The first group of these exports includes flat-rolled products, waste and scrap, and intermediate products of iron or non-alloy steel.
In turn, the second group includes constructions and their parts (for example: bridges and their parts, lock gates, towers, roofs, doors and windows); sheets, bars, profiles, tubes and similar, prepared for construction; springs, leaf springs and their leaves; stoves, and hollow, seamless profiles.
On February 10 and 11, U.S. President Donald Trump issued proclamations eliminating all exemptions from steel and aluminum tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, including for Mexico and Canada.
As a result, Mexico and Canada could face 25% tariffs on their steel and aluminum imports to the United States starting March 12, 2025, possibly in addition to the 25% tariff that Trump plans to impose on both countries and that was paused for a month for negotiations, until March 4.
If President Donald Trump maintains the 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports and adds additional tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products, the total tariff would reach 50%.
Finally, Trump announced executive measures on Thursday to impose a reciprocal tariff scheme.
Next week, in meetings with his counterparts in the United States, Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Economy, will likely request the exclusion of Mexico from these tariffs on steel and aluminum and from the general tariff.
In the last decade, Mexican exports of steel and its manufactures to the world increased from US$ 9.632 billion in 2014 to US$ 13.383 billion in 2024, according to data from the Ministry of Economy.
In the same period, statistics from the Department of Commerce show that Mexican exports of these same products to the United States grew from US$6.578 billion in 2014 to US$10.450 billion in 2024.
Dividing both trade flows, the United States' share as a destination for Mexican steel and manufactured goods exports generally shows an increasing trend, from 68.3% in 2014 to 78.1% in 2024.
In March 2018, in his first presidential term, Trump imposed tariffs of 25% and 10% on steel and aluminum imports, respectively, covering most of the United States' trading partners. Then, in January 2020, Trump expanded the scope of the tariffs to include derived goods.
But permanent exemptions were then granted to Brazil and South Korea for steel and to Argentina for steel and aluminium in exchange for quotas. Australia was exempted from both tariffs. Trump subsequently lifted tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and announced a joint monitoring and consultation system.
Finally, under President Joe Biden's administration, the United States reached separate agreements with the European Union, Japan and the United Kingdom to replace U.S. tariffs with tariff-rate quota systems.
In order to be excluded, both Mexico and Canada implemented policies to jointly prevent tariff evasion on steel and aluminum, and strengthen the supply chains of these products in North America.
In addition, to enter the United States free of Section 232 tariffs, steel imports from Mexico must be melted and dumped in Mexico, the United States, or Canada.
In turn, aluminum imports from Mexico must not contain primary aluminum for which the reported primary smelting country (largest smelting country), secondary smelting country (largest smelting country), or most recent smelting country is Belarus, China, Iran, or Russia.
Section 232 investigations revealed that excess imports weakened the domestic steel and aluminum industries.
