Marcelo Ebrard , head of the Ministry of Economy (SE) , announced the measures that the federal government will implement in Mexico to protect and benefit the national industry in various sectors, such as steel, textiles, and footwear, and to prevent tax evasion.
At this Monday’s morning press conference, he announced that the registration of 1,062 mills in several countries around the world will be canceled, as “they have inconsistencies or irregularities, or they simply don’t exist, and so we will carry out a process of cancellation and deregistration of those registrations,” as irregularities were detected.
He explained that in order to import steel products, registration is required. “You have to present to the Ministry of Economy where the products are produced, we call them mills; that is, steel plants anywhere in the world.”
In this regard, a thorough review of these records will be conducted, which will help curb unfair practices such as the use of false records, steel triangulation, and trade in counterfeit documentation, the federal official stated during the presentation of the progress of Plan Mexico .
“We will prevent marketing companies from using fake mills to bring steel into the country,” he asserted.
At the conference, he also outlined the lawsuits the federal government has filed against companies within the Manufacturing, Maquiladora, and Export Services Industry (IMMEX) program for failing to properly use temporary exports.
“The Ministry of Economy proceeded to review a program called IMMEX, which was created to allow companies that produce in Mexico but export to other countries to carry out that activity temporarily, because they are not going to stay in Mexico. A review was conducted, and we found that eight companies were illegally using Mexico. We saw they were lying, saying they were importing textiles or footwear to later export them. We verified, we checked, and we saw that they were not exporting them,” he explained.
He said that the accounts of those eight companies, which had imported 24 billion pesos (mdp) , were frozen, “and with the support of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), we are investigating.”
Ebrard recalled that on December 19, 2024, a decree was published imposing a 35% tariff on 138 tariff items corresponding to manufactured textiles, including footwear products.
Another measure announced was to adjust reference prices , since importers often declare a lower value than the actual cost of imported products in order to pay a lower tax.
Along these lines, he announced several dates on which the reference price will be adjusted: for furniture and lighting, it will be May 12; for toys, games, and guitars, it will be May 26; for sporting goods, it will be June 16; and for paper and cardboard, it will be July 16.
Made in Mexico Campaign
At his morning press conference, Ebrard also announced the Made in Mexico campaign , which will begin next June “to support the Mexican government’s initiative to rescue, establish, and promote the pride of Made in Mexico.”
He assured that this initiative will be carried out in conjunction with the private sector of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) .
“The main objective is to protect domestic industry, and therefore jobs in Mexico. This should translate into more jobs,” Ebrard emphasized, adding that this strategy seeks to reduce economic dependence on foreign countries, increase sales of domestic products, and foster productive self-sufficiency.
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