Mexico‘s Secretary of Economy, Raquel Buenrostro, held a virtual meeting with the representative of the USTR, Katherine Tai, to address shared concerns about steel trade in North America.

During the meeting, both officials agreed that frank and direct dialogue is part of the success of the trade relationship between the two countries.

To address the shared challenges, Mexico recently harmonized steel and aluminum tariffs with the United States vis-à-vis those countries with which it has not signed a treaty.

Steel trade

The Secretary of Economy rejected the lack of transparency, reiterating the willingness to share the information required to identify product traceability and combat triangulation in North America, a problem that affects Mexican, U.S. and Canadian industries alike.

She also proposed a cooperation agenda that, among other aspects, includes consolidating tariff homologation, cooperation between anti-dumping agencies to make their investigations and resolutions more efficient, and strengthening regional traceability mechanisms.

Production

According to the Worldsteel Association, global steel production in 2023 was steady compared to 2022 at approximately 1.89 billion metric tons.

Among the top 10 steel producing countries, steel production in China remained stable and production in India, the United States and Russia increased, while production in Europe, Brazil and Japan decreased.

The top five steel-producing countries accounted for 74% of global steel production in 2023.

On the other hand, the United States and the European Union (EU) are currently negotiating a global sustainable steel agreement to restore market-oriented conditions and address carbon intensity.

In June 2023, to inform these ongoing discussions with the EU, USTR requested that the U.S. International Trade Commission conduct a Section 332 investigation to assess the greenhouse gas emissions intensity of U.S.-produced steel.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the United States agreed to continue Section 232 tariff rate quotas on U.S. imports from Europe through December 2025 and the EU agreed to continue to suspend retaliation on U.S. exports through March 2025.