The National Chamber of the Textile Industry (Canaintex) celebrated the publication of the draft of the First Amendment to Annex 29 of the General Rules of Foreign Trade 2026 to strengthen the traceability of the sector and prevent smuggling from continuing to wreak havoc on this industry.

In an interview with T21, Rafael Torre Lamuño, president of Canaintex, explained that after the 2024 decree that prohibited certain finished products, smuggling migrated to bonded warehouses, where imports grew by 600 percent.

In that regard, he detailed the seriousness of the previous situation and the importance of the new regulations issued by the tax and customs authorities in the current fiscal year.

“The misuse of the regime in Strategic Fiscal Zones (RFE) presents a significant risk to sensitive sectors, such as textiles, due to the difficulties in tracing goods upon their release from customs. Additionally, not all inputs entering the RFE were processed and exported: some were diverted to the domestic market irregularly, to the detriment of formal industry and tax revenue,” Torre Lamuño stated.

The official document establishes the exclusion of textile goods from temporary import regimes, bonded warehouses, and RFE (Regional Export Regimes) to prevent irregular entry. This measure responds to the fact that the misuse of these schemes allowed finished products to enter the country without fulfilling tax obligations , directly affecting domestic businesses in the sector.

Regarding the future operation of the venues, Torre Lamuño considered that the private sector maintains a constant technical dialogue with the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) and the National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM) .

The current strategy seeks to implement data science and technological tools in ports such as Lázaro Cárdenas and Manzanillo to detect suspicious shipments before they arrive in the country. The agency maintains that these oversight measures are necessary to ensure a level playing field among competitors and eliminate practices that undermine the rule of law.

Torre Lamuño emphasized that, although progress has been made, continued work on predictive data analysis is necessary to mitigate the smuggling that still persists along the country’s northern land borders. To achieve effective surveillance, Canaintex reiterated its commitment to collaborating with the federal government.

The head of the organization added that the outlook for the sector in 2026 is positive, estimating that the second half of 2026 will be one of the best periods for textile manufacturing due to the market recovery . He also pointed out that the combination of new domestic content regulations and the digitalization of customs will help boost the industry’s competitiveness in the short term.

The Mexican textile industry creates more than 1.1 million jobs and generates the highest added value of any manufacturing sector in the country, with 37.6% national content in its exports, according to data from Canaintex.

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The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) , the National Chamber of the Textile Industry (Canaintex) and the Canadian Textile Industry Association (CTIA) issued a joint statement urging US President Donald Trump to reach an agreement with Mexico and Canada to avoid imposing 25% tariffs on imports from these countries and close the de minimis loophole.

The textile associations emphasized that “our three countries are partners in a vital textile and apparel co-production chain that generates $20 billion in two-way trade and helps support more than 1.6 million jobs under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a trade deal that was negotiated during President Trump’s first term.”

In a statement, the associations explained that the U.S. textile industry sends $12.3 billion , or 53% of its total global textile exports, to Mexico and Canada, inputs that return as finished products to the United States under the USMCA.

Mexico exports nine billion dollars in textiles and clothing to the United States, the fourth largest exporter of textiles and the sixth largest exporter of clothing to that country.

Canada exports approximately $1.8 billion worth of textiles and apparel to the United States and Mexico, with the United States accounting for 64% of its total global textile exports, including high-quality fire-resistant materials and medical equipment.

“While we fully support President Trump’s efforts to curb illegal migration as quickly as possible, we urge the administration to refrain from imposing punitive tariffs on imports from USMCA partners. We are focused on ensuring a normalized trade relationship between our countries,” said Kim Glas , President and CEO of NCTO.

He also stressed that imposing tariffs on imports from critical USMCA partners will only benefit China and other Asian countries that do not comply with the rules and will harm the US textile industry.

On the other hand, Glas pointed out that the industry is also asking Trump to end the de minimis tariff exemption for imports from all countries.

“This loophole in U.S. trade law, which allows imports valued at $800 or less to enter the United States duty-free, hurts our textile and apparel industries, benefits countries like China, and helps facilitate the flow of illegal goods ,” he said.

For his part, Rafael Zaga Saba, president of Canaintex, said that despite the measures adopted by countries to avoid the importation of undervalued goods, manufactured with forced labor or transshipped , they have seen firsthand how the Asian market has obtained an unfair advantage through predatory trade practices, displacing companies and workers.

“Canada seeks to preserve our strong co-production chain with Mexico and the United States, which stimulates investment, trade and employment in all three of our countries,” said Jeff Ayoub, chairman of the CTIA board of directors.

The associations jointly added that they look forward to working closely with the Trump administration and continuing to educate officials on the adverse impact of penalty tariffs on imports from Western Hemisphere countries and de minimis tariffs on these industries and workers, while highlighting the critical nature of the strong co-production chain, which contributes to overall investment, job growth and economic stability.

Since Trump unveiled plans to slap tariffs on all three countries in late January, the Mexican and Canadian governments have been working to defuse tensions and persuade Trump that they have been working to police their borders.

It is worth remembering that the US government is expected to make a decision on March 4 regarding the 25% tariffs on its USMCA trading partners.

In response, textile associations said that additional tariffs on the country’s three most important trading partners would only increase the economic tension that has begun to emerge from Trump’s wave of actions.

Companies that import auto parts, medical devices, produce and clothing to the United States are once again grappling with how to absorb the added costs.

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According to the Monthly Survey of the Manufacturing Industry (EMIM) , published this Monday by the  National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) , in December 2024 the physical volume of production of the manufacturing industry registered a monthly drop of 1.5% , and the annual rate showed an increase of  0.2 percent .

At the end of 2024, the survey also indicated that the number of employed personnel remained unchanged on a monthly basis and that, by type of contract, the personnel dependent on the company did not register any variation, while the non-dependent personnel – those hired and provided by another company, and this is done on the basis of fees or commissions, so they do not have a fixed salary – decreased by 4.8 percent .

In that month,  hours worked  showed a monthly decrease of  0.8% , while  average real remunerations paid  (wages, salaries and social benefits) in the manufacturing sector did not register a monthly variation .

In the last month of last year, the hours worked by employees dependent on the company decreased by 0.7% and those of non-dependent employees fell by 4.7% monthly.

Regarding the variation in the indicators of the manufacturing sector and by subsector, the tanning and finishing of leather and skin , and the manufacturing of leather , skin and substitute materials products , was the industry that had the largest drop in the physical volume of production, with an annual variation of 13.9% , and also registered a decrease in employed personnel of  6.7% in December 2024.

Other components that reported the largest declines at the end of last year in terms of production were the manufacture of textile products , as well as the manufacture of clothing , with declines of 8.3% and 4.8% , respectively.

In this sense, the Mexican textile industry has been one of the most affected by the unfair practices of some foreign companies that offer undervalued products through temporary imports, which is why the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum , signed a decree last December to increase tariffs on manufactured goods by 35%  , in order to protect this sector.

According to the EMIM results, production and hours worked registered monthly declines last December, while employed personnel and wages remained unchanged at a monthly rate in said period, which anticipates a panorama of what could happen for the rest of 2025 in this indicator, which has to do with the labor issue, and which will be one of the points that will be put on the table in the next review of the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC)  in 2026.

The EMIM reveals the behavior of the main variables associated with employment in the manufacturing sector, and captures quantitative information on employed personnel dependent on the company name, employed personnel not dependent on the company name, remunerations, among other indicators, according to Inegi.

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For some time now, the Mexican textile industry has been making efforts to ensure that the country has a “level playing field” with respect to foreign companies that sell undervalued products through temporary imports. Therefore, the decree to increase tariffs on manufactured goods by 35% and on textile imports by 15% represents support for their needs that will strengthen regional supply chains.

Rafael Zaga Saba, president of the National Chamber of the Textile Industry (Canaintex) , highlighted in a press conference that a decade ago the textile industry represented 3.6% of the GDP; however, today this percentage has been reduced to 1.8 percent.

He also stressed that more than 70,000 jobs have been lost in the industry over the past two years, and he hopes that, with this presidential measure, jobs will gradually begin to recover, in addition to an improvement in employment.

In this regard, Canaintex acknowledged Claudia Sheinbaum, President of Mexico, and the Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, for having listened to their requests in just three months of management.

For his part, Sergio Contreras Pérez, executive president of the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology (Comce) , said that this “ is not a protectionist policy, it is a way of limiting ”, since the way of introducing this type of products to the country was left aside.

“We have had the need to review the sensitive issue of tariffs in a new strategy. Mexico does not have a great impact on the relationship with China like other countries. So perhaps we have stopped reviewing what the relationship with China should be, it is a way of reviewing the openness we have, and limiting it,” he said.

The other side of the coin

On the other hand, Logística de México (LDM) , a logistics consulting firm, acknowledged that although the measure is aimed at protecting the national industry, it will have a profound impact on the country’s logistics chain.

In this regard, he indicated that this will bring with it a considerable increase in operating costs that will affect both logistics companies and end consumers.

“The implementation of new tariffs on textiles represents a structural change for logistics in Mexico. Companies face the challenge of adapting their processes in an environment where operating costs will increase significantly. This involves redesigning transport routes, training personnel in more complex customs procedures and optimizing supply chains to reduce the financial impact on end consumers and businesses,” said José Ambe, CEO of LDM.

Among the most significant effects is the increase in import costs, since this measure could generate an annual additional cost of 1.5 billion dollars (mdd) in imports.

In addition, logistics costs, including transportation and storage, will also increase, with freight rates potentially rising by 5% to 10% , adding up to approximately $500 million annually in additional costs due to additional procedures and customs delays.

Other effects foreseen by LDM include high complexity in customs procedures, delays in delivery times, as well as an adjustment in the way companies plan their inventories.

Therefore, the impact of these new tariffs will translate into a total increase in operating costs of close to two billion dollars annually .

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In order to protect the Mexican textile industry and prevent the abuse of current provisions, the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, signed a decree to increase tariffs on manufactured goods by 35% , as well as a 15% increase on the import of textile products .

This was announced by Marcelo Ebrard , head of the Ministry of Economy , during the morning press conference, who highlighted the importance and dynamism of this industry, which generates around 400 thousand jobs . The measures, he pointed out, will only apply to countries with which Mexico does not have trade agreements.

The federal official also pointed out as a second point the increase in the list of products that cannot be imported through the Manufacturing, Maquiladora and Export Services Industry Program (IMMEX) , which allows companies to temporarily import goods and machinery for the production, transformation or repair of export merchandise, and which were exempt from taxes.

“The goal is not to abuse this provision, because then it means that I can sell a finished product on the market without paying VAT, without paying Income Tax, without paying tariffs, and then my product is cheaper than that of a Mexican company established in any federal entity,” Marcelo Ebrard stressed.

Among the reasons for establishing such actions, he explained that in 2024 the national textile industry reached its lowest level of employment after losing 79 thousand jobs in recent years. He also said that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this sector fell 4.8% at an annual rate, equivalent to approximately 1,229 million pesos (mdp) .

He also recalled that since 2019, Mexico has been importing more than it exports, and noted that the increase in textile goods was 0.8 % and in clothing, 12.5 percent .

“Companies that are part of the IMMEX program, which imports parts or products that are not supposed to be finished, must return at least 80% of the merchandise they import, that is, you have to prove that you used it to finally export it or finish a process,” he added.

He said that these measures close “a door that left Mexican companies at a disadvantage, allowing the entry of finished products that evaded taxes and competed unfairly.” He explained that the objective is to encourage the development of this industry , promote employment and fair market conditions .

He also noted that the State of Mexico, Puebla, Hidalgo, Coahuila and Guanajuato are the main textile producers in Mexico, so they will benefit from the new policies.

In response to the media, the Secretary of Economy outlined some actions against technical smuggling , which is deceiving a request to the authority by indicating that it is a temporary import in order to evade taxes and tariffs. In this regard, Ebrard added that irregularities have already been identified in several customs agencies.

He pointed out that, as a sanction, seven customs agent patents have been revoked and said that actions against piracy are also being carried out, such as operations, to ensure more equal trade.

First plant to produce semiconductors to open in 2025

On another topic, Marcelo Ebrard announced that it is very likely that by 2025 our country will have the first Mexican-owned plant to produce semiconductors for the automotive sector and other production chains.

In his presentation, he also stated that investment portfolios have been developed for 2025 and that efforts have been made with the private sector in order to encourage them to invest and create synergy.

He also indicated that they are working with various industries , such as the automotive industry, where specific investments have been identified for next year, which will be in the area of ​​suppliers, auto parts, and how to bring the production of batteries for electric vehicles closer to Mexico.

He noted that the investment portfolio is linked to the Mexico Plan , which is a “navigation chart” that seeks to strengthen the national production of different goods and services to reduce imports and achieve shared prosperity.

The federal official also denied that Mexico is producing Chinese cars under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (T-MEC) , as indicated by a study prepared by the United States, and also explained that there is Chinese investment in the country, although the rules of origin for exports are always monitored.

Regarding lithium , Ebrard indicated that the Sonora Plan is being consolidated to facilitate investments. In addition, the production of this chemical element is also being accelerated so that Mexico can begin to build batteries.

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The textile industry in Mexico began in 1837 with four factories in Puebla, and by 1844 there were 47 factories nationwide. However, it was not until 100 years later, in 1937, that a business representation organization defending the interests of the industry was formed, giving birth to the National Chamber of the Textile Industry (Canaintex), highlighted its president, Rafael Zaga Saba.

On the occasion of its 87th anniversary, Canaintex presented the document “Understanding the Textile and Clothing Industry 2024,” prepared by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), which highlights that from 2003 to 2023, the number of establishments in this industry in the country grew by 156.8%, reflecting in jobs.

“Currently, our country has companies dedicated to the production of threads, fabrics, textiles, and finished products, among other sectors related to the production chain. This anniversary is a significant event reflecting the importance and impact of our industry. Let’s continue spinning stories and dressing Mexico and the world,” said Zaga Saba.

To give an idea of the importance of the textile and clothing industry, this sector had a positive impact on 60 out of 78 activities of the national economy or subsectors, generating employment and income in industries such as agriculture, chemistry, machinery, and equipment, among others.

According to Inegi, the textile and clothing industry has been mainly made up of micro-establishments employing up to 10 people, with 95.6% of the total, which generated only 5.7% of production.

In contrast, medium-sized establishments, with 51 to 250 people, represent 1.1% of the total, and large ones, employing 251 or more people, concentrated 56.3% of the employed personnel and 82.6% of the gross production.

Furthermore, the textile industry has integrated national supply chains, as for every 100 pesos of inputs used, 55.5 pesos came from national sources.

On the other hand, the document indicates that although in 1993 the textile industry represented 5.6% of Mexico’s manufacturing gross domestic product (GDP), reaching its highest representation in recent years, today the industry represents 1.9%, with data as of the end of 2023.

Additionally, it provides an overview of the textile industry’s GDP, which had an average growth of 6.5% between 1995 and 2000, thanks to the impact of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Canada.

However, the institute stated that this changed starting in 2001 when China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), with a drop in the textile GDP from 131 billion pesos (mdp) to 115.75 billion mdp. In 2023, the GDP of the textile and clothing industry decreased by 8.4 percent.

Regarding production, in 2018, 65.6% of the total gross production was concentrated in the State of Mexico, Puebla, Mexico City, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, and Coahuila.

On the other hand, exports from this industry increased by 2.1% from 2022 to 2023, going from nine billion 100 million dollars (mdd) to nine billion 300 million mdd, while imports decreased by 1.7%, going from 13 billion 500 million mdd to 13 billion 300 million mdd.

The participation of the textile and clothing industry in the country’s manufacturing exports in the last three years was 1.8%, with this industry allocating 89.4% of its exports to the United States.

The main countries of origin of imports of products from the textile and clothing industry were China, with 35.4%, and the United States, with 24.6%.

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