The government of Mexico negotiated with the United States a special treatment for steel imports from Brazil, which will be transformed and exported to the American Union free of the 25 percent tariff that Joe Biden's government decreed for steel not manufactured in the USMCA zone.
“It was agreed that Brazil will have special treatment in the case of steel imports,” said the President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, at a press conference.
Later, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that “An agreement was signed with the United States to design a mechanism so that Brazilian steel transformed in Mexico is not subject to tariffs; That is, the casting and pouring requirements will not apply to products that come from said country,” the federal agency said in a press release.
On Wednesday, the United States announced that it agreed with Mexico to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel exports from Mexico to the United States, for steel that has not been melted and poured in one of the three USMCA countries. This, in particular to have the triangulation of steel from China to the United States through Mexico.
The agreement, according to industry experts, benefits the Mexican unit of the Italian-Argentine Ternium, which imports slabs from its plants in Brazil.
Therefore, with this agreement accepted by the United States, Mexico will comply with the commitments agreed in the USMCA, which requires that by 2027, all steel exported to the United States will be melted and cast in North America.
With these types of agreements, the President of Mexico urged to invest in Mexico "because here we are guaranteed the free export of steel and aluminum to the United States and Canada."
Although, the president did not talk about the 49-day blockade of the ArcelorMittal facilities in Mexico, by the mining union of his friend, Congressman Napoleón Gómez Urrutia.