Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced an agreement with the national steel industry with the aim of strengthening steel production in the country and reducing dependence on imports.

The agreement, described as “historic”, is part of the federal government’s strategy to bolster a sector considered key to production chains, particularly in industries such as automotive and construction; as part of the Mexico Plan.

The agreement includes measures to incentivize national production and promote domestic consumption of steel , in line with an industrial policy that seeks to prioritize national content in different sectors; all this under three main pillars: public procurement , infrastructure financing and commitments to the construction sector .

This announcement comes in a complex context for the Mexican steel industry, marked by trade tensions with the United States, with tariffs of up to 50 percent.

It’s worth noting that Mexico is a major exporter of steel products, with the United States as its primary destination. According to the National Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry (Canacero) , between 70% and 80% of Mexican steel exports go to the U.S. market, reflecting the high level of production integration in North America.

Furthermore, the industry faces capacity utilization below 60% , pressured by both trade measures and international competition, especially from Asian countries.

Sheinbaum’s announcement comes in parallel with new measures to prioritize the use of domestic steel in public projects, a strategy that seeks to strengthen domestic demand in the face of an adverse international environment.

The agreement with the steel industry also comes in the lead-up to the review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) , where steel and aluminum are emerging as key issues on the bilateral agenda, especially regarding tariffs and rules of origin.

For his part,  Marcelo Ebrard, head of the Ministry of Economy , underlined the strategic importance of the steel industry for Mexico , highlighting its role in productive autonomy, employment, and the security of industrial chains.

“ It is an extraordinarily important industry for autonomy, for, I would say, even the security of our production chain ,” he stated.

Ebrard emphasized that the national steel industry is a pillar for multiple industries, providing essential inputs for various production chains in the country.

“ The Mexican steel industry is responsible for producing a huge number of inputs for almost all of Mexico’s industrial chains. That’s why we have to take great care of it; besides being very important for employment, it generates value ,” he said.

In numbers, the Mexican steel industry produces around 18 to 20 million tons of steel per year under normal conditions , according to Canacero, and also contributes about 2% of the manufacturing GDP and generates more than 600,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Ebrard also highlighted the dynamism of investments in the sector, referring to his recent visit to a project in Pesquería, Nuevo León.

“ It’s practically a city that’s being built to produce highly sophisticated steel in Mexico and stop importing it, especially for the automotive industry ,” he emphasized.

He added that “ we need to organize ourselves to reduce imports from other parts of the world and so that the industry, including ourselves, can reciprocate the effort it is making, the investment effort, to expand its plants, and help them to get through these months and coming years in the best possible conditions .”

The federal official stated that, while price remains a relevant factor, the origin of the products will be a determining factor in decision-making.

“ It’s not just the price; where it’s made matters a lot. Sometimes we don’t make everything and we have to import some things, but we have to make the effort to, first, see what we can do here in our country ,” he said

He also reiterated that the central objective of the agreement is to support the national steel industry and strengthen domestic production.

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El cargo Mexican government announces agreement with steel industry; Ebrard calls for strengthening it apareció primero en T21.

The National Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry (Canacero) supported the tariff measures announced by the Mexican government, which seek to impose taxes to protect various productive sectors, including the steel industry, within the framework of the Protection Program for Mexico’s Strategic Industries .

This program, which was sent to the  Congress of the Union , considers reforming various sections of the General Import and Export Tax Law, which would adjust tariff fractions of the Tariff of the General Import Tax Law, in order to increase the most favored nation tariffs applicable to the import of different goods.

In this regard, Canacero emphasized the need to promote public policies that strengthen the national industry in the face of the challenges of international trade , highlighting the efforts of the federal government.

“In an increasingly complex global environment, it is essential to have measures that defend Mexican production, promote competitiveness, and protect employment, fundamental pillars of the country’s industrial development,” the organization emphasized in a statement.

Canacero also announced that it is ready to begin the review process for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) , “a fundamental negotiation for the future of our country.”

It’s worth remembering that the  Ministry of Economy (SE)  published the call for comments on the operation of this trade agreement in the  Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF)  , ahead of the USMCA review scheduled for July 2026.

The agency expressed confidence that these actions will continue to address the specific needs of the steel value chain and will align with the objectives of Plan Mexico , to further promote investment, industrial development, and regional integration, with the goal of consolidating a strong, modern, and competitive steel industry .

In 2024, Mexico ranked 15th in the world as a steel producer , with Nuevo León leading the way in producing this input, with 2.73 million tons, according to data from Canacero.

Meanwhile, domestic production of  finished steel products  last year reached 18.2 million tons, reflecting the importance of this sector for the country.

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El cargo Canacero approves measures to protect the Mexican steel industry apareció primero en T21.

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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The National Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry (Canacero) rejected the imposition of 25% tariffs on steel imports by the United States and asked the Mexican government to “take urgent trade defense measures to protect the national industry.”

In a statement, the organization expressed its “deep disagreement” with the unilateral decision by the U.S. government, a measure that, it noted, will seriously affect the steel industry and the entire metalworking chain in North America , putting competitiveness and regional integration at risk.

“The tariffs threaten 75% of Mexican steel exports, valued at 2.1 billion dollars, putting key jobs and investments in our country at risk,” Canacero added.

He said that if Mexican steel is not excluded from tariffs, it will be necessary to apply reciprocal reprisals on steel products from our northern neighbor .

In this regard, he stated that “the Mexican steel industry supports the efforts of the Government of Mexico to ensure that economic reason prevails and achieve the definitive exclusion of Mexico from the executive order recently communicated by the United States government.”

He added that in the face of the threat of excess capacity in China and Southeast Asia, a high level of productive integration between the two countries and regional benefits must prevail.

The statement said that the steel trade balance between the United States and Mexico reflects a surplus of 2.3 million tons in favor of the United States at the end of 2024, “so there is no justification for the imposition of tariffs on Mexican steel.”

On February 10, Donald Trump , President of the United States, announced that he had signed two executive orders to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, a rate that will apply to all countries and will affect its trading partners in the region, such as Mexico and Canada.

These measures will come into effect on March 12 of this year.

In response to this, on Tuesday at the morning conference, Marcelo Ebrard , head of the  Ministry of Economy  in Mexico, described the measure as a “bad and unjustifiable idea ,” since the United States exports more to the country than it imports, and will therefore seek dialogue with trade authorities from its northern neighbor.

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El cargo Canacero rejects US tariffs; calls for urgent measures to protect Mexican steel industry apareció primero en T21.

Due to the increase in exports of finished steel products from the United States, the Mexican industry of this product faces a “critical challenge,” said the National Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry (Canacero) , who also warned that this sector of the northern neighbor is not complying with the joint declaration agreed by both countries.

“Between 2015 and 2023, bilateral trade in finished steel products has reflected an average annual surplus of 1.2 million tons in favor of the United States; however, in 2024 this surplus doubled, reaching unprecedented levels,” Canacero said in a statement.

According to annualized data through November, there was a 21% growth in U.S. exports to Mexico compared to the 2015-2017 base period; on the other hand, Mexican exports to the United States fell 2% , generating a surplus of 2.4 million tons and a value of more than four billion dollars (mdd) .

According to information from the Ministry of Economy , 27% of the steel that our northern neighbor exports to Mexico originates in Asian countries, with possible cases of triangulation from Malaysia.

“On the contrary, accusations that Mexico serves as a bridge from China for the triangulation of Asian steel to the United States are unfounded. Data from the United States Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis System (SIMA) indicate that between January and November 2024, exports of steel of Chinese origin from Mexico were only 580 tons, representing 0.02% of the total. Likewise, 85% of the steel exported by Mexico is melted and cast in the country,” he stressed.

Canacero explained that while Mexico has supported regionalization and integration under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (T-MEC) , the Mexican steel industry is currently seen being displaced.

In this regard, he recalled that in 2024 the United States captured 15.9% of the Mexican market, while our country represented only 2.2% of the American market. In light of this, he indicated that Mexico has adopted measures to protect the region from unfair practices , including the application of tariffs of up to 50% for countries without trade agreements.

“In addition, it has implemented an automatic import notification system with certification of the producing mill, and has worked with the United States through the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on a steel traceability system to identify its origin and avoid triangulation attempts,” he said.

In this context, Canacero ratified its support for the position of the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum,  to apply some measures to exported steel products from the northern neighbor sent to our country, in the face of possible trade reprisals.

Just last January 17, this same organization ruled out that steel exports from Mexico were a threat to the United States, and stated that it is unfounded that Mexican exports are generating the closure of plants or layoffs in the United States, as the steel industry in that country has mentioned on several occasions.

According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) , in November 2024, Mexican mining and metallurgical production, which includes extraction, processing, smelting and refining activities of metallic and non-metallic minerals, stood at a level of 77.6 points , which meant a decrease of  0.9% at a monthly rate.

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El cargo Mexican steel industry faces challenges from US exports: Canacero apareció primero en T21.

Steel exports from Mexico do not represent a threat to the United States, said the National Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry (Canacero) , and supported the position of President Claudia Sheinbaum in applying some measures to steel products exported from the northern neighbor sent to our country, in the face of possible trade reprisals.

“In light of the growth in U.S. steel exports to Mexico and the persistent threat of imposing tariffs that violate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on Mexican steel, the industry supports what our president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said, in the sense that the Mexican government, if necessary, should apply a proportional and immediate retaliation to the exported products, in this case for steel products from the United States sent to Mexico,” the organization indicated in a statement.

He also argued that it is unfounded that Mexico’s exports are causing plant closures or layoffs in the United States, as the steel industry in that country has mentioned on several occasions.

According to its own sources, the northern neighbor has a surplus with Mexico in bilateral trade of finished products, since the United States’ surplus has been 1.2 million tons per year on average from 2015 to 2023.

“With information up to October 2024, the US surplus will increase to 2.4 million tons, which will represent 4.1 billion dollars (mdd). This implies a 10% growth in the tons exported by the United States to Mexico compared to 2023 and 23% more than the 2015-2017 average. In contrast, Mexico’s exports to the United States have fallen 13% compared to 2023, with which we return to 2015 levels,” Canacero detailed.

In this regard, he explained that while in 2024 the United States accounted for 16.1% of the market in Mexico, our country represented only 2.2% of the market in the United States.

He clarified that data from the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE)  indicate that Mexico’s exports have 11.8% U.S. content and the exports that our northern neighbor makes to our country generate nearly 40 thousand direct jobs in that nation.

He also dismissed accusations of triangulation since, according to information from the United States Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis System (SIMA) , from January to October 2024, exports of that product of Chinese origin are only 578 tons , which represented 0.02% of total steel product exports in that period.

Among other provisions, he explained that Mexico has taken actions such as tariff measures against countries with which it does not have a trade agreement of up to 50% , along with automatic import notices that require a certification from the producing mill and various antidumping cases (a measure that seeks to protect the national industry from unfair competition).

In addition, the industry has joined the efforts of the US government by working on a traceability program implemented by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) .

Canacero considered that the best way to confront China is the T-MEC and regional integration ; “the real solution to combat unfair imports is to act as a block in the face of common challenges,” which is why it urged unity, since “it not only amplifies regional power, it also mitigates the national security vulnerabilities of our countries.”

In the next review of the USMCA, scheduled for 2026, the steel industry will be one of the topics that the negotiators of the trilateral trade agreement will put on the table. In light of this, and in agreement with Canacero, the Mexican Government is preparing similar measures that, if they affect this sector, would apply to some steel products from the United States.

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El cargo Canacero Denies Mexican Steel Exports Pose Threat to the U.S. apareció primero en T21.

The review of the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) is approaching (2026) and the uncertainty of what may come with it is becoming greater and greater, however, one of the industries that has already advanced in This regional integration is steel .

The White House recently released a statement in which the President of the United States, Joe Biden, announced that, in order to protect and strengthen supply chains in North America, imports of steel and aluminum from Mexico will be subject to evaluation of origin, a measure that was agreed upon with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Given this panorama, Raúl M. Gutiérrez Muguerza, president of the DEACERO Group Board , assured that this is great news for the Mexican steel industry because it indicates greater integration of the market in North America .

It should be remembered that to exempt the tariffs (25% steel and 10% aluminum) imposed by the United States, a certificate must be presented that proves the regional origin of casting and casting of this material.

“In the case of steel there are a large amount of unfair imports from many countries and that harms competitiveness. This generates a very high growth potential,” said Gutiérrez Muguerza.

The specialist assured that, given this measure, the Mexican market is prepared to cooperate in this certification, especially because 87% of Mexican steel exports comply with the certification of origin , that is, only 13% of these contain materials. foreign raw materials, so the industry is already working to inject capabilities into its production.

For his part, the national coordinator of Social, Productive and Economic Sectors in Claudia Sheinbaum’s presidential campaign, elected deputy Alfonso Ramírez Cuéllar, assured that, 75 days before the new head of the Executive Branch 2024-2030 takes office, Mexico must adopt an industrial policy and “we must do everything possible to increase national content and added value in our products, and above all things we have that conviction.”

He assured that before the revision of the T-MEC, Mexico has a major problem, since it is one of the countries that incorporates the least regional content and the least added value into its export products .

Therefore, specific public policies must be supported to break the long period of moderate growth, which is why it is also necessary to redefine the relationship between the public and the private, issue recommendations and establish coincidences in the face of challenges.

“We are obliged to assume part of North America, on that basis the review of the T-MEC will have a long-term future that allows us to strengthen commercial ties and deepen cooperation to combat crime, find new schemes to resolve our fiscal weaknesses and Above all, make joint investments in new technologies for research and infrastructure,” concluded the deputy.

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