Mexico Says Its Steel Crackdown Is Working — and It Wants US Tariffs Cut in Return

November 11, 2026 Faizan Altaf

Mexico says its crackdown on Asian steel is working. On Wednesday, 11 November 2026, a senior Mexican trade official told reporters that the country has shut down around 1,100 steel mill registrations that turned out to be fake, cut steel imports from Vietnam by as much as 80 percent in some months, and reduced steel and aluminium imports from third countries by about 30 percent.

The message from Mexico City was aimed squarely at Washington. Mexico wants the United States to cut the heavy tariffs it charges on Mexican steel, aluminium and cars — and it is offering proof that it has done its homework as the reason why.

What Mexico announced

Luis Rosendo Gutierrez, Mexico’s deputy economy minister for foreign trade, spoke to journalists in Mexico City on Wednesday. He said Mexico had tightened the checks it runs with industry to trace where steel comes from, and that it could now guarantee that foreign steel was not being smuggled into the United States through Mexico.

“We want to guarantee — and we are guaranteeing — that there is no triangulation of steel or other products that reach the United States taking advantage of our trade agreement,” Gutierrez said.

Triangulation is the trade term for a simple trick. Steel made in one country is shipped to a second country, given new paperwork there, and then sent on to a third country as if it came from the second country. The point is to dodge tariffs or to claim the benefits of a trade deal that the steel was never entitled to. Washington has accused China of using Mexico this way, and Mexico has spent months trying to prove that it is not happening.

The numbers behind the crackdown

Gutierrez gave reporters three figures that sum up what Mexico says it has achieved:

Around 1,100 mill registrations cancelled. Mexican officials checked the steel mills listed on import certificates and found that many of them did not exist at all. The registrations — many of them in Asia — were removed from the approved list.
Steel imports from Vietnam down 80 percent in some months. Vietnam was one of the biggest sources of the steel Mexico was importing. After the fake mills were struck off the list, those imports fell sharply.
Steel and aluminium imports from third countries down about 30 percent. Imports from countries including China, South Korea and India fell by roughly a third, worth about 13 billion pesos — around 698.5 million US dollars.

Gutierrez also said that about 80 percent of Mexican exports to the United States already enter tariff-free under the North American trade pact, the USMCA. In other words, most of what Mexico sells to its biggest customer is not taxed at all — but steel, aluminium and cars are the painful exceptions.

Why this matters to Mexico

Steel has become one of the most politically sensitive issues in the trade relationship between Mexico and the United States. In June 2025, the United States doubled its Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminium from 25 percent to 50 percent. Section 232 is a US law that lets the president impose tariffs on national security grounds, and the 50 percent rate applies to steel and aluminium from almost every country, including Mexico.

For Mexico, that tariff is expensive. Mexico is one of the world’s biggest steel trading partners with the United States, and its car industry — one of the largest in the world — depends on cheap steel. A 50 percent tax on steel makes Mexican cars, fridges, washing machines and building materials more expensive to produce, and harder to sell in the United States.

Mexico’s government argues the tariff is unfair. Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard has pointed out that the United States actually sells more steel to Mexico than Mexico sells to the United States — Washington runs a surplus in steel trade with its southern neighbour. From Mexico’s point of view, there is no flood of cheap Mexican steel threatening American jobs, so the tariff has no good reason to exist.

The crackdown started in October

The 11 November announcement was not the first time Mexico has talked about fake steel mills. The crackdown began a few weeks earlier, in October, when Ebrard announced that Mexico had sent a team to Asia to check the steel plants named on import certificates.

The team found that some of the plants simply were not there. Importers had presented certificates claiming their steel came from a particular mill — but when Mexican officials went to check, there was no mill at the address given. More than 1,000 supplier registrations were removed as a result.

Ebrard said at the time that Mexico had found no evidence of triangulation — no sign that foreign steel was being passed off as Mexican and sent to the United States. He argued that this took away the justification for the American tariff.

Gutierrez’s update on 11 November was, in effect, the progress report: the numbers are now in, and they show the crackdown biting.

What Mexico wants now

Gutierrez was clear about Mexico’s priority. The country wants relief from the US Section 232 tariffs on cars, steel and aluminium — and it wants that more than it wants a big, wide-ranging review of the whole USMCA trade pact.

That is a deliberate choice. A full review of the trade deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada would be a long, complicated negotiation covering everything from farming to digital trade. Mexico would rather get a quicker, narrower win: lower tariffs on the three products that matter most to its factories.

Gutierrez said US officials had been receptive to proposals put forward by Ebrard, and that Mexico hoped for positive news in the coming weeks, before the end of the year.

Ebrard has made the same point in public in recent weeks. In October, he told Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies that Mexico wanted no carmaker to pay more than 15 percent in US tariffs — a rate similar to the one South Korea pays — and said he expected a cut on steel and cars within weeks or months. So far, though, nothing has been signed, and no US order has changed either rate.

Why Washington cares so much about steel

To understand why the United States is so focused on steel, it helps to look at the bigger picture. The US government is determined to stop Chinese goods and raw materials from entering the American market through third countries. China makes more than half of the world’s steel, and its steel is often cheaper than steel made in the United States or Europe, partly because of government support for Chinese steelmakers.

If Chinese steel can be shipped to Mexico, relabelled, and then sent to the United States tariff-free under the USMCA, American steelmakers lose out — and the whole point of the US tariff is defeated. That is why Washington has pressed Mexico to prove that its steel really is Mexican, or at least really comes from the country named on the paperwork.

Mexico’s answer is traceability: the ability to follow a piece of steel from the mill where it was made, through every step of its journey, to the factory where it ends up. Gutierrez said Mexico had tightened those traceability measures with industry, so that every shipment can be checked.

What happens next

Three things are worth watching in the coming weeks:

1. Will Washington agree to cut the tariffs? Mexico says US officials have been receptive, and it hopes for good news before the end of the year. But no deal has been announced, and the US government has given no public promise. Until an order is signed, the 50 percent steel tariff and the 25 percent car tariff stay in place.

2. Will the import numbers hold? The falls in imports from Vietnam, China, South Korea and India are striking, but they are partly the result of a one-off purge of fake registrations. The test will be whether the lower numbers last, or whether new routes and new paperwork appear.

3. What happens to the USMCA review? The trade pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada is being reviewed, and Mexico’s preference is clear: fix the tariffs first, and leave the big questions about the pact for later. Whether Washington agrees with that order of business is still an open question.

What it means for ordinary people

Trade disputes about steel can sound far away from daily life, but they reach into ordinary pockets. Steel is in cars, fridges, cookers, bridges, buildings and countless other things. When steel costs more, those things cost more — in Mexico, in the United States, and in every country that trades with them.

For Mexico’s factory workers, the stakes are jobs. The car industry alone employs hundreds of thousands of people, and many of those jobs depend on selling cars to the United States. If tariffs make Mexican cars too expensive, orders fall, and factories cut shifts.

For American buyers, the stakes are prices. A tariff on Mexican steel is, in the end, a tax that American companies and consumers help to pay. That is why the argument is not just about trade rules — it is about who pays, and how much.

Frequently asked questions

What is steel triangulation?

Triangulation, also called transhipment, is when goods from one country are routed through a second country so they appear to come from there. In this case, the concern is that steel from China or other Asian countries could be sent through Mexico and then into the United States as if it were Mexican, dodging US tariffs and claiming the benefits of the USMCA trade deal.

What are Section 232 tariffs?

Section 232 is a section of a US trade law that allows the president to impose tariffs on imports that are said to threaten national security. The United States used it to put a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminium, then doubled it to 50 percent in June 2025.

What is the USMCA?

The USMCA is the trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada. It replaced the older NAFTA deal in 2020. It lets most goods move between the three countries without tariffs, as long as they meet rules about where they were made.

How much steel does Mexico import from Asia?

Mexico has now cut its steel and aluminium imports from third countries — including China, South Korea and India — by about 30 percent, worth roughly 13 billion pesos, or about 698.5 million dollars. Steel imports from Vietnam alone fell by 80 percent in some months after fake mill registrations were cancelled.

Has the United States agreed to cut the tariffs?

Not yet. Mexico says US officials have been receptive to its proposals and it hopes for positive news before the end of the year, but no agreement has been signed and no US order has changed the rates.

Conclusion

Mexico’s message to Washington is simple: we have done the work, now cut the tariffs. By cancelling around 1,100 fake mill registrations, slashing imports from Vietnam, and cutting third-country steel imports by nearly a third, Mexico says it has proved that its steel trade is clean.

Whether that is enough to persuade the United States is the question that will decide the next few weeks. Mexico is hoping for an answer before the year ends. Until then, the 50 percent tariff on steel stays — and so does the argument about who should pay for it.

Sources

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.

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