Tariffs will protect 350 thousand jobs: Ebrard

The tariff package that Mexico will apply starting January 1, 2026 to nations with which it does not have trade agreements aims to protect 350,000 jobs in different industries and guarantee a level playing field, said the head of the Ministry of Economy (SE), Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón.

Yesterday morning, the official explained the measures approved last week expeditiously by the Senate, in response to the demands of different industries, particularly the automotive, steel, textile, and clothing and footwear industries.

“The purpose is to take care of 350 thousand jobs in Mexico. That is the final objective,” said the secretary, after highlighting that the impact on the consumer of the increase in product prices will be 0.2 percent.

He indicated that these provisions are not directed at a particular country, but rather at specific products from nations with which Mexico does not have trade agreements.

They are sectors “where we have seen the most effects on employment, not because they cannot compete, but because products are received below the international reference prices. There is no level floor.”

Most of the jobs expected to be protected by these measures, he said, are in the automotive sector, which generates a third of manufacturing employment.

Ebrard indicated that this is a preventive action for the application of which 17 strategic industrial sectors and 1,463 tariff fractions were chosen.

“We have not made a decision by country, Mexico does not establish tariffs on a country. The objective is to protect certain industrial sectors; our organization (of tariffs) is by product. We are talking about countries with which we do not have a trade agreement, because when there is, they cannot be applied.”

He said that Congress spoke not only with representatives of the industries, but also with those from countries with which there are no trade agreements, such as China, India, South Korea, Russia and Indonesia.

The majority of vulnerable jobs are located in Aguascalientes, Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, state of Mexico, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Puebla and Querétaro.

“If we don’t take measures now, how are we going to recover those 350,000 jobs in a year? That’s why we act in time. Yes, we compete, we are the most prominent exporting country in Latin America, but there has to be a level playing field, competitive conditions, not allowing prices below inventory levels,” he noted.

For her part, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo pointed out that even though it is not the central purpose, the tariffs will leave 30 billion pesos in revenue per year. He also guaranteed that this decision will not increase inflation in food or other products.

He added that his administration is in dialogue with representatives of the nations that will be affected.

“We do not want enmity with any country. They are simply decisions that are made in agreement with different business or industrial sectors in our country, from small to large, to strengthen employment and the development of Mexico.”