LatinNews Daily - 17 August 2023

* Mexico’s economy ministry (SE) has temporarily increased the tariff levied on imports from countries that do not have a trade agreement with Mexico. In a statement, the SE said it had made the changes via a decree published in the official gazette (DOF) which amended the law of general import and export taxes to establish temporary import tariffs of between 5% and 25% on goods classified across 392 tariff items. In a statement, the SE said it had raised the tariff “in order to strengthen the integration of domestic producers in the value chains of the domestic industry, as well as in those that will be triggered by the relocation of investments”. It stated that inputs and goods from strategic industries such as steel, textiles, apparel, footwear, aluminium, tyres, plastics, glass and ceramics, among others, were considered and that the tariff increase was expected to benefit more than 206,000 micro-, small-, and medium-sized companies, which generate more than 1m jobs in the country. The decree will expire on 31 July 2025.