In the recent heated scenario of applying tariffs to exports from Mexico and Canada to the United States with the assumption of power by Donald Trump in January, which rose in tone with the proposal of the Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) that requests greater protectionism for its members, the CEO of the Latin American steel giant Ternium, Máximo Vedoya commented on the issue.
In his capacity as president of Caintra, the business chamber of the northern state of Nuevo León, home to Ternium's largest production center in the region, Vedoya said that the damage supposedly caused by Mexican steel exports to the United States are "incorrect and misinformed" by the SMA, published the news site on the internet Reportacero.
"The United States exports more steel to Mexico than we export to them. Still, their industry wants to impose 25 percent tariffs on Mexican steel. It is an irrational measure that will harm both their own industry and ours,” Vedoya said.
“In 2024, Mexico will have a trade deficit with the United States of 2.3 million metric tons (mt) of steel. This year Mexico will export 2.1 million mt and import 4.4 million mt from the United States. So, it is false that steel exports to the United States have increased," Vedoya said.
Based on this information from Vedoya, SteelOrbis found that Mexico's steel deficit with the United States will increase 30.5 percent from 1.76 million mt in 2023 to 2.3 million in 2024. There is even an explosive increase of 390.6 percent when considering Mexico's trade deficit for 2022, which was 469,000 mt.
According to Vedoya's forecast, this year steel exports from the United States to Mexico will increase 7.8 percent. Although considering the volume from 2022 to 2024, the increase will be 19.1 percent. The steel that Mexico will sell to the American Union will decrease 9.4 percent compared to 2023, although considering the volume for 2024, the accumulated volume in two years will be negative by 34.9 percent.