Mexico eliminates tariff-free footwear imports to protect its industry

The Mexican government announced on Thursday the elimination of a temporary trade regime that allowed the tariff-free import of finished footwear. This has reduced production and employment in the sector, according to President Claudia Sheinbaum.

This decision is the latest in a series that the left-wing government has implemented. It aims to protect the domestic industry from competition posed by duty-free imports from large global producers such as China and other countries.

It also comes amid the global trade offensive promoted by President Donald Trump, in which Mexico is heavily involved as the largest trading partner of the US.

"Finished products do not need to have temporary import permits. Therefore, as of today, there are no longer temporary imports for finished footwear," Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference.

The government did not report which countries the imports affected by the measure come from. However, according to official data from 2024, its main suppliers in the footwear and headwear sector are China; Vietnam; Indonesia; Italy; and the US. These types of measures do not usually affect countries with which Mexico has free trade agreements.

Approved in 2021, the temporary import permit allowed domestic companies to import finished shoes without paying taxes. This allowed them to sell with a wide profit margin to foreign customers, but also in the local market.

This is the "misuse" of a regime originally designed to favour the import of inputs. These are used in the manufacture of products whose final destination is the US market, according to information from the Ministry of Economy.

As a consequence, Mexico went from exporting six pairs of shoes for every pair imported in 2021 to exporting less than one pair for every one imported in 2024, explained the secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard. "This measure will allow us to recover and increase jobs in the footwear industry and increase domestic production," he added.

Similar measures were adopted in December 2024 to protect the Mexican textile industry. These included the imposition of temporary tariffs on a series of garments and inputs and the expansion of a list of textile products excluded from the tariff-free import programme.

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