Mexico Continues Customs Modernization Efforts, WTO Says
Mexico has continued efforts over the past several years to "simplify customs procedures and promote trade," according to the World Trade Organization’s trade policy review of the country released this week (here). Important developments over the past half-decade include the computerization of customs processes in the “Digital Window,” the use of new technologies to inspect imports, and the abolition of the mandatory use of customs brokers, the review said.
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Mexico “substantially and unilaterally” lowered tariffs, as the average most-favored nation tariff dropped from 6.2 percent to 5.5 percent from 2012 to 2016, according to the report. Mexico applies tariff-free treatment to 58.1 percent of its tariff lines. Mexico had in place 64 definitive antidumping duty measures on imports from 17 countries and territories as of Nov. 30, 2016, 26 more than the number reported for its previous WTO trade policy review in December 2011. Most AD measures applied to steel products. Mexico also had three definitive countervailing measures in place as of Nov. 30, all concerning imports of medicaments from India, the report says. The number of tariff lines subject to Mexican export taxes fell from 25 in 2012 to two in 2016, which apply to bitumen and bituminous mixtures, the report says.
Mexico saw increased exports of manufactured goods to the U.S. between 2012 and 2016, and in 2015, 81.2 percent of Mexico’s exports were to the U.S., while imports from the U.S. composed 47.4 percent of total that year, the report says. Mexican manufactured goods exports represented 85 percent of its total goods exports in 2015, mostly constituting electrical machinery and appliances, and transport equipment, the report says.
On the NAFTA front, a policy statement by the Mexican government (here) related to the WTO trade policy review said it's “crucial” for Mexico to keep a close and fruitful relationship with the U.S. and Canada through the agreement, which the government said is a “pillar and engine for growth” for North America. Mexico has worked to bolster bilateral and trilateral North American economic integration by reducing non-tariff barriers and cross-border transaction costs, improving supply chain movements, enhancing North American infrastructure and “border optimization,” and “strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship in our societies,” according to the statement.