If your sourcing strategy is to buy cheap in Asia, your landed cost may have changed overnight. On December 29, 2025 Mexico’s Official Gazette published a decree that, effective January 1, 2026, raises the general tariff on 1,463 tariff lines of goods from countries Mexico has no free trade agreement with — China first and foremost. Rates run from 5% up to 50%. If you import footwear, textiles, auto parts, toys, plastics, steel or electronics, this hits you directly. Here’s what changed, who it hits, and how to defend your margin.
⚠️ The essentials. This is an increase to the general (MFN) tariff in Mexico’s General Import and Export Duties Law (LIGIE). It hits origins without a treaty (China, and others like India, South Korea, Brazil or Russia depending on the line). Goods that qualify as originating in a treaty partner — USMCA (T-MEC), for example — and prove it with a certificate of origin keep paying the preferential rate. The hit is for whoever imports from non-FTA origins.
What exactly changed
Mexico had already been applying temporary tariffs to certain sensitive products since 2024. The January 1, 2026 decree broadens and deepens that scheme:
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Publication | Official Gazette (DOF), December 29, 2025 |
| Effective date | January 1, 2026 |
| Tariff lines modified | 1,463 of the LIGIE |
| Rate range | 5% to 50% |
| Origins affected | Countries without a free trade agreement with Mexico |
| Stated objective | Curb the mass entry of low-priced goods and protect domestic jobs and industry |
This isn’t a countervailing duty (that’s a separate instrument, against unfair practices). This is a tariff that raises the general base for those origins.
Which sectors and products it hits
The decree covers around 17 sectors. Some reported example rates:
| Sector | Approximate tariff |
|---|---|
| Automotive and auto parts | 25% – 50% (electric vehicles up to 50%) |
| Footwear and leather goods | 25% – 35% |
| Textiles (fabrics, yarns, apparel) | 25% – 35% |
| Toys | 25% – 35% |
| Steel and its manufactures | up to 35% |
| Plastics, paper, aluminum | up to 35% |
| Electronics and appliances | varies by line |
Rates depend on the specific tariff line, not the general “type” of product. Two similar items can fall under different lines with very different tariffs.
How to know if your product is affected
You don’t guess it: you verify it by cross-referencing two data points.
- The correct tariff classification of your goods (the full code, not the one that “sounds right”).
- The real country of origin of the goods.
With that, you check whether that line is in the decree and at what rate it landed. A wrong classification can hide the tariff — leaving you with a tax difference at clearance — or, the other way around, make you think you owe more than you do.
Your best defense: origin
Here’s the lever many importers don’t use. The increase is for non-treaty origins. If you can move your sourcing to a country Mexico does have a treaty with — the United States or Canada via USMCA, or any other partner — and the goods qualify as originating there, you keep paying the preferential rate (often 0%).
Mind the trap: origin is not the same as where it ships from. Shipping Chinese goods via a third country to “change the origin” is transshipment/circumvention, and it’s illegal. What counts is that the goods meet the treaty’s rules of origin, proven with a valid USMCA certificate of origin. Done right, it’s legal and saves you the tariff; done wrong, it’s a tax assessment with fines.
For manufacturers there’s another route: if you import inputs to produce in Mexico, Rule Eight and programs like PROSEC can let you bring those inputs in at preferential rates, even from a non-FTA origin.
The most common SME mistake
Quoting and closing the purchase with the Chinese supplier using the old tariff. The importer calculates landed cost with the 2025 rate, locks in the sale price, and discovers the new tariff when the goods are already on the way. With rates that can reach 35% or 50%, that’s not a minor adjustment: it erases the margin or makes the operation unviable. The tariff is checked before buying, not at clearance.
How it fits with the rest of your operation
This change touches several pieces at once:
- The tariff classification determines whether your product is in the decree and at what rate.
- The certificate of origin is the legal path to avoid the tariff when you change origin.
- Countervailing duties can stack on top of the tariff on certain Chinese-origin lines — check both.
- And it all flows through the customs value, the base the percentage is applied to.
At TradeWay
The time to know how much duty you’ll pay is before closing the purchase, not when the container is at port. Because we handle the full operation — forwarding, clearance and consulting under a single point of contact — we can:
- Verify your code and origin to find out whether you fall under the decree and at what rate.
- Recompute your real landed cost with the current tariff, so your sale price isn’t built on the wrong number.
- Evaluate legal alternatives — switching origin under USMCA, Rule Eight for inputs, product reconfiguration — without crossing into circumvention.
If you buy in China or any non-treaty origin, get in touch today and we’ll review your code before your next order.
