Mexico SE/UPCI — Resolución de Inicio: Antidumping Investigation on Adhesive Plastic Tapes (Cintas Plásticas Autoadhesivas) from China

Mechanism

The Mexican Ley de Comercio Exterior (1993) empowers UPCI to initiate antidumping investigations on petition from domestic industry. Industrias Tuk and Navi Lux filed their petition on 16 December 2025, alleging that Chinese self-adhesive plastic tapes (BOPP/polypropylene backing with acrylic, rubber, or hot-melt adhesive, commercially sold as "cinta para empaque," "cinta canela," and "diurex") entered Mexico under price-discrimination conditions during the investigation period October 2024-September 2025. The damage analysis window extends back to October 2022 to capture trend deterioration in the domestic industry's economic and financial indicators.

TIGIE classification 3919.10.01 covers self-adhesive plastic tapes in rolls with width 20 cm or less, any length or colour. The DOF resolution was published 21 May 2026 and entered into force the following day. This is the same DOF issue that published the parallel mirror-glass antidumping initiation against China (TIGIE 7009.91.99, petitioners Vitro + Prodiesa), making 21 May 2026 a coordinated UPCI enforcement date targeting Chinese manufactured goods across two distinct product families.

Under standard Mexican AD procedure, UPCI notifies the Chinese exporters and the Government of China within five working days. Interested parties have 23 working days from DOF publication to register and submit responses (initial deadline approximately 30 June 2026). Preliminary determination (identifying whether provisional antidumping measures are warranted) typically follows within 100-140 working days of the initiation resolution.

Downstream implications

• Second 2026 MX SE/UPCI antidumping-initiation filing on the register: peers the same-day

mirror-glass initiation (2026-05-21-mexico-se-mirror-glass-china-antidumping-initiation) as the second instrument in the May 2026 Mexico UPCI enforcement cohort.

• First plastic-packaging trade-remedy typology for Mexico on the register: the MX trade-remedy

stack previously covered flat-glass, steel, and chemical typologies; BOPP/PP adhesive tape is a new sector-novel entry.

• Bi-jurisdictional BOPP-adhesive-tape CN-target architecture: Pakistan's NTC imposed a

definitive AD duty on Chinese BOPP adhesive tapes in May 2025 (ADC-66, 2025-05-24-pakistan-ntc-bopp-adhesive-tapes-china-antidumping); Mexico's UPCI initiates 12 months later, creating a PK + MX coordinated enforcement pattern against the same Chinese export product category in two separate jurisdictions.

• Domestic converters as petitioners: Industrias Tuk and Navi Lux represent the

packaging-converting segment of the Mexican plastic-tape value chain. Their petition reflects margin compression from Chinese BOPP tape dumping hitting the converting stage directly.

• Procedural timeline: if UPCI follows standard timelines, a preliminary determination could

land Q4 2026 with a final determination and definitive compensatory duty order in Q1-Q2 2027.

Open questions

• Will UPCI impose provisional antidumping measures at the preliminary stage or proceed directly

to a final determination?

• What margin-of-dumping calculations will UPCI establish at the preliminary stage?
• Will the investigation cover additional product variants beyond TIGIE 3919.10.01?