Mexico Has Had Enough With Chinese Car Imports

The automotive industry is a cornerstone of Mexico’s economy, and officials are signaling they’ve had enough of cheap imports flooding the market. These have become fairly common and even Dodge offers some shamelessly rebadged Chinese vehicles including the Attitude sedan and Journey crossover.

Speaking at an event earlier today, Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon said the country is moving to “protect Mexico’s strategic industries” by imposing new tariffs. He said these will be aimed at products imported from countries they don’t have free trade agreements with.

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One of the government’s biggest concerns is light-duty vehicles and Ebrard claimed they’re being sold at “prices below inventory” in order to gain market share. That’s a rather blatant reference to Chinese automakers and the official went on to say, “The Mexican automotive industry accounts for 23 percent of national manufacturing, so we have to protect it.” Ebrard went on to say auto parts are also being imported at ultra-low prices and so is steel, so the government needs to step up to protect jobs.

Later in the Q&A session with local media, Ebrard said vehicles imported from China and Asian countries are already hit by a 20 percent tariff. However, they’re arriving in Mexico below reference prices, so they’re going to raise the tariff to 50 percent.

More Than Just Cars

The government appears to be eyeing sweeping action as they’re targeting 1,463 product categories including the aforementioned items as well as electronics, toys, and furniture. Ebrard went on to suggest there are around 320,000 jobs at stake.

Reuters reports the tariffs will have to be approved by Congress and could impact a number of countries besides China. Key among them is South Korea and India as well as Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, and Turkey.

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