In order to import steel products into Mexico from any country in the world, each mill of origin must be registered with the Ministry of Economy.

Mexico's Ministry of Economy announced it has canceled steel imports from half of its mills registered abroad, as a measure to prevent illegal merchandise triangulation and tariff evasion.

In order to import steel products into Mexico from any country in the world, each mill of origin must be registered with the Ministry of Economy.

"In that registry, companies must report data on the steel mills from which the material they are importing comes. The president ordered us to review each one; there are more than 2,000," said Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Economy, at President Claudia Sheinbaum's daily press conference.

Some context: US President Donald Trump ordered the imposition of a 25% tariff on all imports of steel, aluminum, and certain derivatives of both metals into the United States starting March 12, 2025.

With this, Trump eliminated the exemptions he granted to several countries during his first presidential term, including Mexico and Canada, with whom he operates a free trade agreement (USMCA).

Ebrard also commented: "Right now, we have personnel in approximately six countries around the world, the farthest being Malaysia, conducting inspections. So, from all that work, we've come to the conclusion—we're not done yet—that 1,062 mills registered by steel importers have inconsistencies, irregularities, or simply don't exist. So, we're going to carry out a process of cancellation and deregistration, as it's called, of those registries."

Consequently, according to Ebrard, these measures will prevent importing companies from using false registrations to import steel. "We will reduce tariff evasion, because they don't pay taxes either; that is, they pay lower taxes or receive benefits," he said.