This editorial by Arturo Huerta González originally appeared in the December 16, 2025 edition of La Jornada de Oriente, the Puebla edition of Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those ofMexico Solidarity Media*, or theMexico Solidarity Project.*
Editor’s note: Under the current USMCA agreement’s Article 32.10, a potential free trade agreement between Mexico and a “non-market economy” like China or Vietnam (or potentially even India or Brazil: the US is able to determine what a “non-market economy” is) is subject to veto by the United States of America, who as the dominant economic power in the Mexican economy have a considerable interest in sabotaging Mexican development.
Enacting the anti-China tariffs would guarantee that Mexican domestic production remains at a disadvantage against US capital, which is heavily financed, as well as able to access special tax concessions from the Mexican government and financing Mexican SMEs cannot; particularly when it comes to acquiring industrial inputs and affordable Chinese manufacturing equipment, which is now almost solely produced by China. Rather than benefitting from anti-China tariffs, Mexican firms may be actively sabotaged in competition in a closed market with primarily EU and US competitors who can access and import Chinese manufacturing equipment into Mexico via subsidaries, or afford to pay steep import fees. In such an environment, Mexican investment will tend towards areas with a high rate of return, such as real estate speculation, currently hyper-gentrifying and socially cleansing neighbourhoods in cities like Mexico City and Guadalajara.
The Mexican government has stated that the tariffs imposed are not against China and other Asian countries, with which Mexico does not have a free trade agreement, but rather are aimed at strengthening domestic industry and the national economy. The truth is that this tariff policy serves the interests of the U.S. government , which wants Mexico to stop importing from China and instead buy from the U.S., thus reducing its trade deficit with Mexico. Furthermore, they want to diminish China’s presence in Mexico, which falls within the framework of the Monroe Doctrine of “America for the Americans.”
The Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard stated that “the tariffs Mexico applied to countries with which it does not have trade agreements have a single objective: to preserve the jobs of 300,000 people who are currently disadvantaged by imported products.” The problem is that the vast majority of domestic production is at a disadvantage compared to all imports, which is why these have grown more than exports. This has led to a decline in industry and a loss of self-sufficiency in the production of staple grains, which has reduced economic growth, increased unemployment and underemployment, widened the trade deficit, increased dependence on capital inflows, and made the economy more fragile.
The high tariffs favor US multinational corporations operating in Mexico that produce polluting cars.
The government states that the tariff reform vis-à-vis Asian countries “is about protecting sectors of our economy that are facing competition from very low prices.” This raises the question: why doesn’t the government also impose tariffs on cheap imports from countries with which it has free trade agreements, imports that harm domestic production , increase unemployment , and reduce formal employment? Why doesn’t the government accept the demands of domestic farmers to remove staple grains from the USMCA or impose tariffs on such imports to protect domestic production and employment and ensure food self-sufficiency ?
If the government truly wanted to strengthen the economy, it would have to impose tariffs on all imports, including those from countries with which it has free trade agreements. It’s important to remember that the national economy’s growth from the 1940s until 1981 was due to the prevalence of protectionist policies and the existence of economic policies that favored productive development.
The private sector stated that “the reforms to increase tariffs on imports from countries with which Mexico does not have a trade agreement reflect an industrial policy consistent with the country’s needs .” However, it should be noted that tariffs alone will not lead to increased productive investment or progress in import substitution. Cheap credit, subsidies, and a competitive exchange rate are required, none of which exist in the country. Without import substitution, import tariffs will put pressure on national inflation and will not stimulate growth.
Mexico has evaded many tariffs other countries have imposed on them because its export industries are entirely dominated by US capital, so President Trump would be tariffing US corporations. Mexican domestic firms that do export to the US, such as in the areas of aluminum, steel and tomatoes, are subject to US tariffs.
The Mexican Automotive Industry Association, comprised mainly of multinational corporations , celebrated the tariffs imposed on Chinese car imports, given their growing presence in the national market due to their lower cost and the fact that they are electric and environmentally friendly. The high tariffs favor US multinational corporations operating in Mexico that produce polluting cars. Furthermore, the Mexican government has not imposed any conditions on these tariffs that would require these companies to lower their prices and increase the production of non-polluting vehicles, thereby increasing national added value.
For its part, the National Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry also celebrated the establishment of tariffs on China and acknowledged that Mexican steel exports to the United States have fallen 50 percent since the “unfair implementation of the tariffs that the US has established,” but did not advocate for tariffs to be established on imports from the US.
While the Mexican government imposes tariffs on China in response to US pressure, it ignores the demands of domestic farmers to remove staple grains from the USMCA trade agreement, and relevant authorities even refuse to engage in dialogue with them. A meeting had been scheduled for Wednesday, December 10, 2025, at the Ministry of the Interior, with representatives from the Ministries of Finance, Economy, and Agriculture. However, the meeting was moved at the last minute to the Ministry of Agriculture. Farmers from many states arrived, but only 25 were allowed into the meeting. The rest were denied entry to the building, and after protests, they were finally allowed into the lobby, where they were prevented from crossing a barrier. No officials from the Ministry of Finance or Economy attended the meeting; only an Undersecretary of Agriculture and lower-level officials from the Ministries of the Interior and Agriculture were present. The farmers protested the government’s failure to take seriously the dialogue it had offered to end the highway blockades. At the end of the meeting, the farmers handed over a document with their demands and indicated that if their requests were not resolved during the week of December 15-19 , they would take to the roads again.
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Analysis
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The government’s stated reasoning for anti-China tariffs rings hollow when considering the flood of cheap US imports destroying the Mexican countryside and production dominated by US corporations exploiting Mexican labour.
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Analysis
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The locomotive mechanic, trade unionist and communist helped found the Railroad Workers Museum after fighting the neoliberal privatization of Mexico’s railways.
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The trade unionist was fired by Mexico City’s Ministry of Culture, who still have yet to recover sculptures of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara that were stolen by ultra-right wing mayor Alessandra de la Rojo Vega.
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