Mexican lawmakers have approved a package of new tariffs, impacting hundreds of products, many of which come from China.<\/p>\n
The measures, which President Claudia Sheinbaum has said are needed to boost domestic production, were passed by the Mexican Senate on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The levies are set to take effect on 1 January 2026 and will apply to goods like metals, cars, clothing and appliances. Dozens of countries that do not have a free trade agreement with Mexico will be affected, including Thailand, India and Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The move comes as Mexico is in negotiations with the US over steep import taxes that President Donald Trump has threatened to impose on the country.<\/p>\n
The measures will impose tariffs of up to 50% on more than 1,400 products.<\/p>\n
The levies will “substantially harm the interests of trading partners, including China,” said a spokesperson for Beijing’s commerce ministry on Thursday.<\/p>\n
An investigation into Mexico’s trade policy is in progress, they added, urging the country to “correct” its decision.<\/p>\n
This week, China also signalled its plans for more involvement with Latin American and Caribbean countries, as it aims to deepen its relationships in the region through trade and innovation.<\/p>\n
Chinese companies have been expanding their footprint in Mexico in recent years, with car brands like BYD and MG establishing operations in the country.<\/p>\n
But Washington has said Beijing may be using Mexico as a way to bypass US tariffs.<\/p>\n
The BBC has contacted the embassies in Mexico of Thailand, India and Indonesia for comment.<\/p>\n
Sheinbaum’s government is in talks with the Trump administration as it tries to reduce tariffs that the White House has threatened to impose on the country. They include potential 50% duties on Mexican steel and aluminium.<\/p>\n
Trump has also threatened to impose extra tariffs on Mexico for various reasons, including a 25% levy as part of Washington’s measures to pressure countries to do more to stop the flow of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into America.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Trump threatened to impose a new 5% tariff on Mexico, accusing it of violating an agreement that gives American farmers access to water.<\/p>\n
“It is very unfair to our US Farmers who deserve this much needed water,” he posted on social media.<\/p>\n
Trump was referring to a more than 80-year-old treaty that grants the US water from Rio Grande tributaries.<\/p>\n
For decades the US has accused Mexico of not meeting the terms of the agreement.<\/p>\n
The US is Mexico’s largest trading partner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mexican lawmakers have approved a package of new tariffs, impacting hundreds of products, many of which come from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":{"0":"post-342845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}