Mexico is slapping a 50 per cent tariff on Chinese cars, in a blow to Beijing as its biggest auto buyer tries to preserve a free trade deal with the United States.
Washington has put heavy pressure on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to stamp out Beijing’s growing influence in the country’s economy, which has recorded a years-long climb in Chinese imports and investment.
The measure is buried in a list of tariffs proposed in a draft bill to congress on roughly 1,400 products, from textiles to steel, that will apply to all countries with which Mexico does not have a trade deal. But Chinese cars were by far the biggest import affected by the tariffs, said Gabriela Siller, chief economist at Banco Base.