Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On June 2, 2026, USTR published final actionability findings in 60 parallel Section 301(b) investigations — the largest simultaneous Section 301 action in US history — determining that all 60 economies maintain unreasonable acts, policies, or practices by failing to impose or effectively enforce a prohibition on imports produced with forced labor. USTR proposed two additional duty rates: 10% on the 14 economies with partial forced-labor regimes (Canada, Ecuador, EU, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Taiwan, UK) and 12.5% on the remaining 46 economies. Tariff rates remain proposed pending a July 7, 2026 public hearing and subsequent finalization; the actionability determination is final.

The Secretaría de Economía (SE), through its Unidad de Prácticas Comerciales Internacionales (UPCI), published a Resolución de Inicio in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 21 May 2026, formally initiating an antidumping investigation into imports of self-adhesive plastic tapes (cintas plásticas autoadhesivas — BOPP/polypropylene backing with acrylic, rubber, or hot-melt adhesive, in rolls 20 cm wide or less, TIGIE 3919.10.01) originating from the People's Republic of China. The investigation follows a petition filed 16 December 2025 by Industrias Tuk S.A. de C.V. and Navi Lux S.A. de C.V., two Mexican domestic converters that alleged Chinese imports entered Mexico under price-discrimination conditions during the investigation period October 2024-September 2025, materially injuring the Mexican packaging-tape industry. The resolution entered into force on 22 May 2026 (the day following DOF publication).

The Secretaría de Economía (SE), through its Unidad de Prácticas Comerciales Internacionales (UPCI), published a Resolución de Inicio in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 21 May 2026, formally initiating an antidumping investigation into imports of mirror glass (vidrio de espejo — silvered, aluminum-backed, copper-free mirrors) originating from the People's Republic of China, classified under TIGIE tariff heading 7009.91.99 (NICO 00). The investigation follows a petition filed 30 January 2026 by Vidrio Plano de México S.A. de C.V. (Vitro) and Productora y Distribuidora de Espejos S.A. de C.V. (Prodiesa), alleging Chinese imports surged during October 2024–September 2025 under price-discrimination conditions that materially injured the Mexican domestic industry. Interested parties have 23 working days from publication (or 5 days after direct notification for Chinese exporters and the Chinese government) to submit responses; the initial deadline is 30 June 2026.

Presidential decree signed by President Claudia Sheinbaum and published in the evening edition of the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 23 April 2026, in force 24 April 2026. The decree amends the Tariff of the Ley de los Impuestos Generales de Importación y de Exportación (LIGIE/TIGIE) and the Decreto que establece diversos Programas de Promoción Sectorial (PROSEC), imposing MFN import duties at 5%, 10%, 15%, 25%, 30% or 35% ad valorem on 185 tariff fractions covering chemical products, cosmetics, paper and cardboard, textiles, steel, graphic arts, aluminum manufactures, auto parts, electrical material, bicycles, musical instruments, furniture, wind turbines, and trailers. Goods originating in countries with which Mexico has a free-trade agreement remain eligible for preferential treatment, so practical incidence falls on China and other non-FTA suppliers (Korea, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Brazil, Indonesia, Taiwan, UAE, South Africa). Paired PROSEC modifications add tariff fractions to Article 5 sections I, II.b and XIX (electrical, electronic, automotive and auto-parts industries) at exempt (EX) rates.

On 21 April 2026, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal issued a final injury finding in Inquiry NQ-2025-005, determining that the dumping of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) originating in or exported from Mexico, the Philippines, Türkiye, and South Korea has caused material injury to the domestic Canadian steel industry. Anti- dumping duties are payable on imports released by CBSA on or after 21 April 2026 and remain in effect for five years. The US investigation was terminated separately.

The European Commission adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/801 on 9 April 2026, imposing provisional anti-dumping duties on imports of terephthalic acid (PTA, purity ≥99.5% by weight, CAS 100-21-0, CN code ex 2917 36 00 / TARIC 2917 36 00 11) originating in the Republic of Korea and Mexico, published in the OJ on 10 April 2026 and entering into force the following day. Duty rates are exporter-specific: Korean producers face 6.2% (Samnam Petrochemical, Hanwha Impact) to 13.7% (all other), with Taekwang Industrial Co. found not to be dumping (0%); all Mexican exporting producers face a flat 25.7%. The investigation was opened 13 August 2025 following a complaint by EU producer Ineos Aromatics.

Mexico's Secretaría de Economía published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 9 April 2026 the final resolution of the administrative sunset review (examen de vigencia) of the compensatory (anti-dumping) duty on imports of steel cable (cables de acero) originating in the People's Republic of China, regardless of country of consignment. The resolution maintains the definitive duty of USD 2.58 per kilogram for a further five years, counted from 17 December 2024 through December 2029. The measure covers tariff fractions 7312.10.01, 7312.10.05, 7312.10.07 and 7312.10.99, is collected by SHCP/SAT, and entered into force on 10 April 2026, the day after DOF publication.

On 11 March 2026 USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer initiated parallel Section 301 investigations into the acts, policies, and practices of 16 economies — China, the European Union, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Japan, and India — relating to structural excess capacity and overproduction in manufacturing sectors. The Federal Register notice (FR doc 2026-05214; dockets USTR-2026-0067 and USTR-2026-0068) was published on 17 March 2026. Covered sectors include aluminum, automobiles, batteries, cement, chemicals, electronics, energy goods, glass, machine tools, machinery, paper, plastics, processed food and beverages, robotics, satellites, semiconductors, ships, solar modules, steel, and transportation equipment. Written comments were due by 15 April 2026; USTR held the public hearing beginning 5 May 2026. This is the most sweeping multi-economy Section 301 initiative since the 2018 China investigation and is structurally distinct from the China-only 2024-05-14 §301 tariff hikes and the 2025-07-15 Brazil §301 investigation.

On 2026-01-26 the US Department of Commerce initiated antidumping (LTFV) and countervailing duty investigations covering van-type trailers and subassemblies thereof from Canada, China, and Mexico, following a petition filed 2025-11-20 by the American Trailer Manufacturers Coalition (Great Dane, Stoughton Trailers, Wabash National). On 2026-06-15 Commerce issued its preliminary affirmative LTFV determination for China, setting a preliminary antidumping duty rate of 130.76% on Chinese van-type trailer imports, effective on publication and triggering CBP duty collection at the border. Companion countervailing-duty and Canada/Mexico proceedings are tracked separately.

On 2026-01-26 the US Department of Commerce initiated countervailing duty (anti-subsidy) investigations covering van-type trailers and subassemblies thereof from Canada, China, and Mexico, companion to the antidumping investigation covering the same product and countries. On 2026-06-05 Commerce published preliminary affirmative CVD determinations: China received an 82.37% subsidy rate for CIMC Baowell Industries/Qingdao CIMC Reefer Trailer and all other exporters, and a 128.78% adverse-inference rate for non-responsive companies; Mexico received rates of 1.90-1.95% for cooperating respondents (Hyundai de Mexico, Utility Trailer Manufacturing de México) and a 62.67% adverse-inference rate for five non-responsive companies. The Canada CVD investigation was terminated on 2026-05-27 after the petitioner withdrew that portion of the petition. Cash deposits at the preliminary rates began on Federal Register publication; final CVD determinations are scheduled for 2026-08-24 (China) and 2026-10-13 (Mexico).

On 31 December 2025 the Mexican Presidency published a decree amending the 2023 basic-basket import-tariff exemption, removing at least eight staple-food categories — fresh/refrigerated/frozen beef and pork, milk and cream, dry beans, rice, soybean/sunflower/safflower/cotton oils, tilapia fillets (HS 0304.61.01) and sausages (HS 1601.00.03) — from the duty-free list effective 1 January 2026. The decree frames the move as reinforcing Plan México's food self-sufficiency goals (Plan de Autosuficiencia en Frijol, a 2030 domestic-dairy production target) by disincentivizing imports of products with growing domestic production capacity. Transition relief lets basic-basket importers with contracts signed before 31 December 2025 keep the exemption through 31 March 2026, and other registered importers through 31 March 2027, subject to SAT contract filing deadlines.

Decree reforming various tariff fractions of the General Import and Export Duties Tariff (TIGIE), published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 29 December 2025 and in force 1 January 2026. The reform, approved by Congress as a statutory amendment to the LIGIE (Chamber of Deputies and Senate, Dec 2025) and signed by President Claudia Sheinbaum, raises MFN import duties to between 5% and 50% ad valorem on 1,463 tariff lines covering more than 20 chapters of the TIGIE, spanning automotive, auto parts, textiles, apparel, footwear, steel, aluminum, plastics, paper, leather, furniture, glass, toys, appliances and cosmetics. The increases apply only to goods originating in countries without a free trade agreement with Mexico — principally China, South Korea, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Brazil, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei, the UAE, and South Africa. The decree formalises at statutory level the September 2024 Sheinbaum executive order placing a 50% duty on finished passenger vehicles from non-FTA states and is framed by the Secretaría de Economía and SHCP as the operational tariff instrument of Plan México (2025-01-21).

On 10 November 2025 the Mexican government published a decree in the Diario Oficial de la Federación (DOF) modifying the Tarifa de la Ley de los Impuestos Generales de Importación y de Exportación (LIGIE) to raise most-favoured-nation import tariffs on sugar and sugar-derivative products (raw, refined, liquid and invert sugar, and related high-sugar-content goods across roughly eight six-digit tariff subheadings) to between 156% and 210.44% ad valorem, replacing the prior specific-duty regime of USD 0.33–0.39 per kilogram. The decree entered into force 11 November 2025, the day after publication, and applies to imports from WTO members that lack a preferential trade agreement with Mexico. The Secretaría de Economía framed the increase as protection for the domestic sugarcane agro-industry against a national oversupply and falling international reference prices.

President Trump signed Proclamation 10984 "Adjusting Imports of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles, Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Parts, and Buses Into the United States" on 17 October 2025, invoking Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose a 25% ad valorem tariff on imports of Class 3 to Class 8 medium- and heavy-duty trucks (large pick-up trucks, moving trucks, cargo trucks, dump trucks, tractors) and on key MHDV parts, and a 10% ad valorem tariff on buses and other vehicles classified in HTSUS heading 8702. Duties take effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on 1 November 2025 (Federal Register doc 2025-19639, 90 FR 48451, published 22 October 2025). USMCA-qualifying MHDVs are tariffed only on the value of non-U.S. content; the proclamation also establishes an offset programme for MHDV parts equal to 3.75% of the aggregate value of all MHDVs assembled in the United States from 2025 through 2030, mirroring the Proclamation 10925 light-vehicle offset architecture.

Mexico's tax authority (SAT), acting under SHCP, published the Cuarta Resolución de Modificaciones a las Reglas Generales de Comercio Exterior para 2025 in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 28 July 2025, raising the flat tax rate applied under the simplified customs regime for low-value courier and parcel shipments (goods valued at USD 2,500 or less) from 19% to 33.5%, effective 15 August 2025. The increase applies to shipments from countries without a free trade agreement with Mexico — in practice overwhelmingly China-origin goods — and is aimed at cross-border e-commerce platforms (Shein, Temu, AliExpress) as well as triangulated goods routed through courier channels by other importers including large retailers. The measure is framed by SHCP as combating under-invoicing and non-tariff-preference triangulation via the courier de minimis channel.

Mexico's Secretaría de Economía (SE), through UPCI, published a Resolución Preliminar in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 26 February 2026 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of dinnerware and loose ceramic dinnerware pieces, including porcelain, originating from China (tariff fractions 6911.10.01 and 6912.00.99, TIGIE). The duty is a reference-price mechanism: imports priced below USD 2.58/kg pay the difference between the import price and the reference price, capped at each exporter's individual dumping margin. The measure reopens a case originally dating to 2012, after Mexico's federal administrative courts (TFJA) nullified the 2014 original duty and its 2019 extension on procedural grounds; SE published the resolution reinitiating the investigation on 15 May 2025. In a related but separate proceeding, SE also published a resolution on 25 February 2026 formally closing out the sunset/validity review of the now-annulled 2014 duty (previously USD 2.61/kg).

Executive Order 14289 of 29 April 2025 provides that certain overlapping US tariffs should not have a cumulative effect. Where an article is subject to the Section 232 automobile and parts tariffs (Proclamation 10908), it is not subject to the northern- or southern-border duties (EO 14193 / 14194) or to the steel and aluminium Section 232 tariffs; border duties in turn take priority over the metals tariffs, while steel and aluminium tariffs may still stack with each other. The order applies retroactively to entries made on or after 4 March 2025.

President Trump signed Executive Order 14257 on 2 April 2025 declaring a national emergency over US trade deficits and imposing a baseline 10% ad-valorem tariff on imports from nearly all trading partners effective 5 April, with higher country-specific "reciprocal" rates effective 9 April. The rate schedule was constructed from a formula tied to bilateral goods-trade deficits and ranged from 10% (UK, Singapore, Brazil, Australia, others) through 20% (EU), 24% (Japan), 25% (Korea), 32% (Taiwan, Indonesia, Switzerland), 34% (China, later raised to 84% then 125% during the April escalation), 46% (Vietnam), 49% (Cambodia). Multiple subsequent EOs paused the country-specific rates for 90 days for non-China destinations on 9 April while keeping the 10% baseline, pending bilateral negotiations.

President Trump signed Proclamation 10908 "Adjusting Imports of Automobiles and Automobile Parts Into the United States" on 26 March 2025, invoking Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose a 25% ad valorem tariff on imports of finished passenger vehicles and light trucks effective 12:01 a.m. EDT on 3 April 2025, with the duty extended to key automobile parts (engines and engine parts, transmissions and powertrain components, electrical components) effective 12:01 a.m. EDT on 3 May 2025. USMCA-origin automobiles receive an interim deduction equal to the value of US-origin content; USMCA-origin parts that satisfy the agreement's rules of origin are temporarily exempt from the parts duty pending a Commerce-administered process. The proclamation is the first Section 232 instrument applied to finished automobiles in US history and the largest-by-trade-volume Section 232 measure of the second Trump administration, covering roughly USD 460 billion of annual auto and auto-parts imports.

President Trump signed two Presidential Proclamations on 11 February 2025 reinstating a universal 25% ad-valorem tariff on all steel-mill products and raising the aluminum tariff from 10% to 25% on all imports into the United States, effective 12 March 2025. The proclamations revoked every bilateral exclusion and quota arrangement negotiated by the Biden administration with the EU, UK, Japan, Korea, Australia, and others under the 2021-2022 "alternative measures" frameworks, returning all trading partners to the baseline Section 232 rate without product-level or country-level carve-outs.

President Trump signed three Executive Orders on 1 February 2025 (EO 14193, 14194, 14195) declaring national emergencies under IEEPA over the cross-border flow of fentanyl + illegal migration, and using that authority to impose new tariffs: 25% on imports from Canada (with a reduced 10% rate on Canadian energy products), 25% on imports from Mexico, and an additional 10% on imports from China (separate from pre-existing Section 301 + Section 232 tariffs). The tariffs took effect 4 February 2025. On 3 February 2025 the administration announced a 30-day pause for both Canada and Mexico following bilateral border-enforcement commitments; the China tariff was not paused. China responded 4 February with retaliatory tariffs of 15% on US LNG/coal/farm equipment and additional measures. The package set the precedent for the broader 2 April 2025 "Liberation Day" reciprocal-tariff regime (filed: 2025-04-02-us-trump-reciprocal-tariff-regime).

President Claudia Sheinbaum's government published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 19 Dec 2024 a decree amending the General Import & Export Tax Law (TIGIE) and the IMMEX Decree. The decree imposes a 35% temporary import duty on 138 finished-apparel tariff lines (Chapters 61, 62, 63 plus tariff item 9404.40.01) and a 15% duty on 17 textile-input tariff lines (Chapters 52, 55, 58, 60), totalling 155 fractions. Concurrently, 302 tariff fractions in Chapters 61/62/63 are removed from IMMEX duty-deferral eligibility (moved out of Annex II Section C into Annex I). The measure exempts countries with which Mexico has an FTA (notably USMCA partners) and is in force from 20 Dec 2024 until 23 Apr 2026.

Mexico's Secretaría de Economía published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 13 September 2023 the final resolution of the administrative sunset review (examen de vigencia) of compensatory (anti-dumping) duties on imports of coated flat steel (aceros planos recubiertos — metallic and/or non-metallic coated carbon and alloy flat products) originating from the People's Republic of China and Chinese Taipei, regardless of country of origin. The resolution confirms that revoking the duties would likely lead to continued or resumed dumping, and therefore extends them for a further five years. Duty rates range from 22.22 % (Baoshan) to 76.33 % (all other Chinese exporters) and from 22.26 % (CSC) to 52.57 % (other Taiwanese exporters).

Mexico's Ley de Comercio Exterior (Foreign Trade Act, LCE), published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 27 July 1993 and entering into force 28 July 1993, is the foundational statute governing Mexico's entire external trade regulatory architecture. The LCE establishes the legal authority for the SECOFI/SE-administered antidumping (AD), countervailing duty (CVD), and safeguard investigation regime (Titles V–VII); the TIGIE tariff-schedule and tariff-classification framework; the IMMEX maquila and PROSEC sectoral-promotion programs; rules of origin for USMCA and other preferential trade agreements; and Mexico's export- licensing and strategic-material restriction framework. The LCE has been amended repeatedly through 2021 and remains the overarching parent authority for all Mexican trade-remedy proceedings administered by UPCI (Unidad de Prácticas Comerciales Internacionales) under the Secretaría de Economía.