Mexico’s steel industry announces US $8.7B in investment

Shrugging disconnected the value of a 25% tariff from the United States, Mexico’s alloy manufacture doubled down connected its committedness to President Sheinbaum’s Plan México last week, confirming it volition put US $8.7 cardinal implicit the adjacent 5 years to summation home production.

“The funds to grow facilities volition spell up with oregon without [U.S.] tariffs,” said National Steel and Iron Industry Chamber (Canacero) President Víctor Martínez Cairo, portion emphasizing that each members of his Chamber enactment Plan México. 

Despite caller alloy tariffs, Víctor Martínez Cairo, caput of Canacero, sees “opportunities to make synergies with the U.S.” (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)

Plan México — officially The National Strategy for Industrialization and Shared Prosperity — is President Sheinbaum’s economical improvement task focused connected strengthening the country’s relation successful planetary worth chains.

Canacero’s expressed extremity is to fulfill each of Mexico’s alloy needs via section production. To bash so, however, Canacero has suggested that the Mexican authorities volition person to instrumentality action.

One of those actions could beryllium to wantonness the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) escaped commercialized agreement. Canacero has asked the medication to bash conscionable that, oregon astatine slightest to see applying tariffs to alloy imported from Vietnam and Malaysia.

A important magnitude of alloy of dubious root is imported to Mexico from Vietnam and Malaysia, with the U.S. marketplace arsenic the eventual destination, Canacero claims. The accusation is that China is utilizing TPP to triangulate its alloy done Mexico and into the U.S., a signifier that the U.S. authorities is determined to eliminate.

Members of Canacero accidental they are consenting to sorb the tariffs connected alloy imports to the U.S. successful speech for a crackdown connected Asian imports by the Mexican government.

While expressing assurance successful the negotiations Mexico’s authorities has undertaken to negociate U.S. tariffs connected steel, Martínez Cairo said helium believes determination are “opportunities to make synergies with the United States.”

“This is the infinitesimal to articulation forces to destruct disloyal practices that impact our nations and our industries,” helium said. “We privation to enactment unneurotic arsenic a determination bloc to fortify nationalist and determination content.” 

Martínez Cairo said that North American neighbors import astir 9.7 cardinal tonnes of alloy from Asia each year. Replacing this with home and determination accumulation would beryllium a boon to some countries, helium said.

Mexico consumes astir 30 cardinal tonnes of alloy each year. Canacero says its five-year concern plan, first publicized successful February, seeks to fulfill each of the country’s home needs, complementing its ain accumulation with imports from the U.S. and ending reliance connected heavy subsidized Chinese steel.

Bilateral commercialized successful alloy betwixt Mexico and the U.S. is astir 7.6 cardinal tonnes annually — 4.4 cardinal tonnes from the U.S. to Mexico and 3.2 cardinal tonnes from Mexico to the U.S.

As such, Martínez Cairo points out, the U.S. has a 1.2 million-tonne commercialized surplus successful alloy vis-a-vis Mexico, making a commercialized warfare illogical. 

With reports from Forbes México, El Economista and Axis Negocios