Trade Cases
November 6, 2020
Mexico GOES Tariff Free
Written by Sandy Williams
Mexico has agreed to strictly monitor exports of grain-oriented electrical steel in lieu of trade restrictions under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
A Nov. 5 statement from the U.S. Trade Representative said, “In light of these measures, imports from Mexico will not be subject to any action to adjust imports of electrical transformers and related parts that may be adopted by the United States under Section 232.”
The U.S. and Mexico will consult regularly on the implementation of the measures and on bilateral and trade conditions relating to GOES products.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said that the influx of low-priced steel from third countries imperils North America’s electrical steel production capability. He praised his Mexican counterpart, Secretary of Economy Graciela Márquez Colín, for working to find “cooperative solutions to a common regional challenge.”
The Department of Commerce self-initiated a Section 232 investigation on imports of laminations for stacked transformer cores, stacked and wound transformer cores, electrical transformers and transformer regulators. The laminates are made of grain-oriented electrical steel.
