Mexico Parliament nod to tariffs on India, others prompts FTA push by exporters

New Delhi: Mexico on Thursday announced up to 50% tariff on imports from its non-preferential trade partners including India, a move that may hit New Delhi’s $5.75 billion worth of annual shipments to the country. The tariffs will come into force from January 1, 2026.

Mexico's Congress has approved a bill that seeks to impose higher tariffs on imports from India, China, Brazil and several other countries with which the North American nation doesn't have free trade agreements (FTA).

Exporters said that industry has been pushing for a trade deal with Mexico for sometime to benefit from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) especially because Mexico has a manufacturing ecosystem.


“Given Mexico’s importance as a key export destination for Indian engineering products, our industry members are deeply concerned that these measures could erode their
competitiveness in the Mexican market,”said EEPC chairman Pankaj Chadha in a letter to the commerce and industry ministry.

The tariffs will apply to electronics, apparels, chemicals, engineering goods, automobiles and metals, among others.

Tariffs will range between 5-50% on more than 1,400 products from Asian countries including India, China and Thailand which do not have trade pacts with Mexico. The proposed tariffs come at a time when Indian exporters are struggling with a 50% tariff imposed by the US.

“To address this, the industry strongly feels the need for a FTA or at least a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between India and Mexico covering the affected sector,” he said.

A trade deal will also help exports to Canada and bypass the American tariffs when selling to the US.

In September 2025, Mexico announced two major trade-related initiatives, including a significant reform to the General Import and Export Tariffs Law which aims to restructure tariff frameworks by substantially increasing import duties on a wide range of products across multiple sectors and would have an impact on countries that do not have trade deals with Mexico.

Mexico has already imposed tariffs ranging from 5-50% on specified products imported from non-FTA countries in 2024.