Trade Cases

Deputy USTR Hits Out at 'Surge' of Mexican Steel Imports

September 21, 2023

Deputy United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jayme White met on Wednesday with Mexico’s Under Secretary of Economy for Foreign Trade Alejandro Encinas, and discussed issues regarding the “surge” into the US of Mexican steel and aluminum imports.

Among other topics during the meeting, White “reiterated concerns about the recent surge into the US of imports of certain steel and aluminum products from Mexico,” according to a USTR statement.

The deputy USTR also stressed “the lack of transparency regarding Mexico’s steel and aluminum imports from third countries, and encouraged Mexico to enhance its monitoring of Mexican steel and aluminum exports to the United States in accordance with the 2019 Joint Statement by the United States and Mexico on Section 232 Duties on Steel and Aluminum.

The meeting took place ahead of the second United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) taking place Thursday in Mexico City, the statement said.

Ethan Bernard

Ethan Bernard is managing editor for Steel Market Update. He previously worked for American Metal Market as a copy editor in the New York office for two years, starting in 2008. Later, he copy edited AMM’s monthly magazine on a freelance basis from 2015 until 2017. With experience in financial copywriting and textbook publishing, he holds a BA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and an MFA. in Creative Writing from New York University. He can be reached at ethan@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7871.