By The opinion
11 Jul 2024, 13:33 PM EDT
The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announced this Thursday that Brazil will have “special treatment” in the agreement with the United States to protect the steel and aluminum supply chain in North America.
“In the case of Mexico, due to a very special situation, Steel and aluminum are required from Brazil and we have a very good relationship with Brazil,” he explained in his daily press conference, which is why “special treatment was agreed in the case of steel from Brazil to Mexico.”
This Wednesday, The United States and Mexico agreed on a series of measures to protect the supply chain in the regionwith an increase in tariffs to prevent countries like China from introducing these materials into the United States.
Both countries agreed to new requirements to ensure and protect “that steel arriving from Mexico obtains tax-free benefits only if it is melted and poured in Mexico, the United States or Canada.”
In case they do not come from Mexico, The products will face 25% tariffs, the White House Press Office reported.
Similarly, aluminum imports from Mexico that contain “primary aluminum smelted or cast in China, Belarus, Iran or Russia” will face a 10% tariff.
López Obrador added that this deference will also cover “steel and aluminum that may have components originating” in Brazil and assured that this agreement was proposed by Mexico.
“When they made the proposal to us, We set two conditions: one, that there would be no mention of countries, that the resolution would not have a dedication.”, he explained.
And, the second, he said, the exception of Brazil.
These policies come two months after the Mexican government revoked the tariffs of between 20% and 35% that it had imposed at the end of April on foreign aluminum due to the lack of national production.
The controversy over steel and aluminum began in Februarywhen the US warned that it could reimpose tariffs on these metals from Mexico, accusing companies from Asia, particularly China, of using the country to triangulate their exports to the United States.
For the current president, who on October 1 will leave the National Palace in the hands of Claudia Sheinbaum, The agreed measures must be observed with an eye to the medium and long term.“so that investment can be made in Mexico.”
He reiterated his commitment to “continuing to strengthen” North American trade and, although it will no longer be his turn, he hoped that the entire economy of the American continent will “become integrated.”
“So that it can consolidate itself as the main economic and commercial region in the world,” he said.
Besides, The agreement reached also supports “self-sufficiency” and “import substitution” in the region, according to the president, something that “suits” Canada, the United States and Mexico.
The decision of the administration led by Joe Biden to work with the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to prevent China from introducing steel and aluminum into the United States through Mexico, thus circumventing the tariffs that the United States imposes on these materials, had been announced by the American president in mid-April.
With information from EFE.
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