US tariffs on Chinese vehicles put pressure on Mexico

MEXICO CITY (apro).– US President Joe Biden announced that his country will increase tariffs on electric cars, solar panels, steel and other Chinese-made products, with the aim of shoring up votes in this election year.

According to the White House, the measures include a 100% border tax on electric cars coming from China, in addition to a 25% to 100% increase in tariffs on electric vehicles and taxes on solar cells will increase from 25% to 50 percent.

According to El Financiero, experts warn that this scenario will pressure Mexico to take decisive action in the face of the arrival of a greater supply of cars with Chinese technology.

In the first two months of this year, the import – through Pacific ports – of vehicles from Chinese brands such as JAC, Chirey, Omoda, Changan, MG Motor, BAIC, JMC, doubled to reach 73,554 units, according to figures from INEGI, that is, 48.2% of the new units that arrived in the country, according to El Financiero.

“Chinese manufacturers have made a huge bet to flood the market, they are doing so with quality products and at a price punished by the issue of what the Chinese government is doing for them. What is going to happen later? An even more visible trade war is going to come, we should think about how we handle this situation so that Mexico does not become a headache for the United States,” Francisco Torres Landa, partner at Hogan Lovells, told El Financiero.

“In light of the growth in Mexican imports of final Chinese automobiles, we believe that talk of Chinese triangulation of goods through Mexico is exaggerated,” explained Swedish financial firm UBS earlier this month.