Mexico says it has cut steel imports from Vietnam 80% from 2024, at least in some months. Deputy Economy Minister Luis Rosendo Gutiérrez said so Nov. 11. "We want to guarantee – and we are guaranteeing – that there is no triangulation," he said, in Reuters' translation.
Triangulation, or transshipment, means routing goods through a middle country to dodge tariffs, which are taxes on imports. Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard says Mexico's own checks find no transshipment in its steel exports. The U.S. charge is wider. President Trump's 2025 tariff order on Mexican steel cited "transshipment or further processing" of foreign steel.
Mills that "did not exist"
Importers may buy steel only from mills on a government list. Gutiérrez credited the cut to dropping about 1,100 mills that authorities found "did not exist." In May 2025, Mexico struck every Vietnamese mill left on the list, news outlets reported.
Adrián Vázquez Benítez represents Vietnam's steel makers in Mexico. He called claims of Chinese steel moving through Vietnam and of shell companies "false" and "misleading." "If we were assigned dumping margins ... how is it now that we supposedly do not exist?" he asked in 2025. The ministry said in April that its checks, mainly in Vietnam, found records tied to plants that did not exist. Ebrard named no companies in October, Forbes México reported.
What the trade data show
Profoundd checked Mexico's trade data at the United Nations, which count dollars, not tons. Mexico bought $101 million of basic iron and steel from Vietnam from January through July 2026. That is down 82.5% from $575 million in those months of 2024. The steep drop began in June 2025, after the delisting. But finished steel goods from Vietnam more than doubled, from $48 million to $107 million. Counting both, steel from Vietnam fell by two-thirds.
Gutiérrez also said steel and aluminum imports from China, South Korea and India fell about 30%. He credited new tariffs of up to 50% on countries with no trade deal. They began in January. Mexican steel industry sources told the newspaper Reforma in October that imports have not stopped. They said the steel trade deficit with China and Vietnam keeps rising. They spoke anonymously, fearing reprisal after Ebrard asked them not to comment. One said Mexico bought $1,067.8 million of Chinese iron and steel in January through May, which U.N. data confirm. Imports have not stopped, but they are falling. Basic steel from China fell 33% from a year earlier in January through July, from $612 million to $409 million. Steel from China and Vietnam together fell 19%, from $2.18 billion to $1.77 billion.
The U.S. side
The United States taxes Mexican steel at 50% under Section 232, a national-security law. Ebrard calls the tariff unjustified because Mexico buys more steel from the United States than it sells there. Mexico's 2025 data back him overall, by $1.6 billion. That holds for basic steel, $6.3 billion bought to $2.5 billion sold. Finished steel goods run the other way, $4.9 billion to $7.1 billion.
Brandon Farris of the Steel Manufacturers Association wrote on Fox News in July. He said Mexico "has increasingly served as a gateway" for subsidized steel. He wants steel "genuinely produced in North America, not merely processed here." The American Iron and Steel Institute says Mexico's tariffs should have no "carveouts ... due to existing free trade agreements." Mexico's new tariffs skip Vietnam, which has a trade deal with Mexico. Bloomberg reported in July that Washington asked Mexico to "mirror Washington's tariff wall against Chinese steel and aluminum." Its sources said Mexico is open to it.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick opposed big tariff cuts, The Wall Street Journal reported in October. El Universal relayed it. Officials on both sides told the Journal talks go on. Gutiérrez said Mexico hopes for good news by year-end.
Reporting through Thursday, November 12, 2026. Sources: El Universal, Nov. 11, 2026; Reuters via MINING.COM, Nov. 11, 2026; Forbes México (EFE), Nov. 11, 2026; UN Comtrade, Mexico's steel trade with Vietnam, China and the United States, HS 72 and 73, 2024 to July 2026, read Nov. 12, 2026; Proclamation 10896, Feb. 10, 2025; Mexico Business News, June 13, 2025; Reforma via Plano Informativo, Oct. 20, 2026 (permits; critics); El Imparcial, April 29, 2026; Forbes México, Oct. 19, 2026; Por Esto, Oct. 19, 2026; El Universal, July 29, 2026; Government of Canada, CPTPP; Bloomberg via Transport Topics, July 27, 2026; El Universal on The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 16, 2026; American Iron and Steel Institute testimony, Dec. 4, 2025; Fox News (Brandon Farris), July 24, 2026.
