Global News Of Note: Mexico Begins To Take On China

What happens abroad impacts MSCI members in North America. Here is the latest economic, trade, and other policy news of note for the last week:

• BNA Americasreported that “Mexico continues to increase tariff restrictions on Chinese imports amid pressure from [the United States] due to concerns about higher steel and aluminum exports.” Specifically, Raquel Buenrostro, Mexico’s economic minister, has confirmed that her country will update a tariff decree from August 2023 designed “to combat unfair trade and all products that arrive subsidized, at prices below production costs.” The current decree places tariffs of five to 25 percent on 392 tariff items, including steel and aluminum products, from countries that do not have a trade agreement with Mexico.
• France’s Senate has voted 211-44 to reject a bill to ratify a 2017 trade deal between the European Union (EU) and Canada. The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), provisionally went into effect in September 2017 after all EU governments agreed to it, but full implementation requires approval by the parliament in each EU country. Despite the failed vote, CETA still has a shot at being approved in France. The bill now goes back to the National Assembly, which previously had approved the trade pact and can override the Senate rejection of it, giving final approval to CETA. If the National Assembly rejects the legislation, however, it would likely mean the death of the Canada-EU trade deal. Read more here.