Juan Antonio Reboulen: “We are in the perfect storm, without access to the American market and with more Asian imports in Mexico.”
Juan Antonio Reboulen, the Deacero facilities in Mexico City the Director of Corporate Affairs and International Trade calls the 50% tariff imposed by the United States on Mexican steel “unfair” and “irrational.”, December 22, 2025.
The steel industry in Mexico is experiencing its worst crisis in the last 17 years. The imposition of a 50% tariff on its exports to the United States, its main market, has been a severe blow to Mexican steelmakers. Internally, companies have had to make staff cuts and changes to their production, awaiting negotiations between the Mexican and U.S. governments. Juan Antonio Reboulen (Veracruz, 55 years old), Director of Corporate Affairs and International Trade at Deacero, points out that this tariff is “unfair” and “irrational” for the U.S. market itself. Unlike other sectors, Mexico buys more steel from the U.S. than it sends across the Rio Grande, resulting in a trade deficit for Mexico of more than $4 billion annually.
According to industry figures, from January to October of this year, Mexico shipped 1.3 million tons of steel to its northern neighbor, a 27% drop compared to the same period in 2014. Reboulen warns that the economic slowdown and the opening of the market to steel from countries like Vietnam and Malaysia are compounding the worst crisis the sector has faced since 2008.
Question: How has the 50% tariff on steel affected you?
Answer: It’s a very significant impact. In the specific case of Deacero, our exports reached almost 38% or 40% of our production, and the vast majority of that went to the United States. We had already experienced tariffs during Trump’s first term, but now they have been expanded to include steel-containing products. This is a tremendously different situation and has a very strong impact because we are now talking about domestically manufactured steel products. More than 400 products have been added to this new measure, and the impact is not only on us as producers but also on our downstream production chain.
Furthermore, during this period, the market share of China and its economic allies, such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and other Southeast Asian countries, has grown in both steel products and derivatives in the Mexican market. Vietnam and Malaysia are major concerns because both countries are part of the TPP 11 [Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership] and, therefore, do not pay tariffs. So, there’s no way to know how much of the steel produced in Vietnam and Malaysia is of Chinese origin and how much is local. There, the same controls and traceability as in North America simply don’t exist.
Q: Will you ask the government to increase tariffs on steel from Vietnam and Malaysia?
A: Yes, they will be increased, of course. Furthermore, this steel has another exemption through temporary import programs. In Mexico, these programs were created to establish a manufacturing hub here, which was supposed to attract investment and growth. What happened, and we can see this in light of the last 35 years, is that on average, the economy has grown by only 2% because the domestic content of our manufactured goods is very low. That’s why we are asking for the repeal of these programs, at least for the steel sector.
Q: Have you calculated how much market share you could recover if these temporary import programs were eliminated?
A. Of Mexico’s total steel consumption, 30% to 35% is supplied through imports. Direct imports of some steel products from China to Mexico have decreased. Now, Chinese steel is shipped through other countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and from there it reaches Mexico. Furthermore, this steel is now sent to factories where it is manufactured into other types of goods, including automobiles, and then shipped to Mexico. This is why the United States increased tariffs on steel products.
Today, part of the Mexican market is being taken by these imports, and many of them are subsidized, triangulated, evade quotas, or use sectoral programs to avoid paying. There is uneven competition because we, as a national company, pay taxes, energy costs, and comply with strict environmental regulations.
Click here to read the full interview on El País
Source: El País
