MEXICO CITY, December 17. /TASS/. A significant portion of the current bilateral trade turnover between Russia and Mexico is not subject to import duties introduced by Mexico City, a representative of the Russian embassy in Mexico told TASS, adding though that the new restrictions significantly narrow the prospects for increased cooperation between the two countries.
"Based on the results of preliminary analysis, the Russian side assumes that a significant part of the current bilateral trade turnover between Russia and Mexico, taking into account the specifics of nomenclature, is not subject to the introduced tariff measures, which allows speaking about the absence of a dramatic effect on current trade and economic ties," the embassy said.
The decisions taken by the Mexican authorities "are taking the form of a systemic tariff policy aimed at supporting domestic producers, including maintaining a more favorable regime for the import of raw materials and semi-finished products while simultaneously increasing the burden on suppliers of finished goods," the diplomatic mission noted.
This "narrows the potential for expanding bilateral cooperation in the medium term, primarily in the segments of exports of finished industrial products, and certainly does not contribute to improving the conditions for increasing mutual trade," the embassy added.
Earlier, both houses of the Mexican Congress approved amendments to the tariff law, which provide for increased tariffs on a number of goods from countries with which the republic does not have free trade agreements. These include, in particular, Russia, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa.
The increase in tariffs scheduled for January 1, 2026, ranges from 10% to 50% and applies to textiles, passenger cars, household appliances, motorcycles, soap, perfume, cosmetics, furniture, plastics, and auto parts.
According to figures provided on the website of the Mexican Ministry of Economy, the republic purchased goods from Russia worth $1.626 bln in 2024. Various fertilizers accounted for 35.4% of imports from Russia, semi-finished products made of iron or non-alloy steel accounted for 25.1%, while wheat and meslin accounted for 15.9%.
In turn, Mexico supplied goods to Russia worth $31.5 mln last year, 16.1% of which was black pepper, and 14.8% was antibiotics.