Mexico tariff hike spares Taiwan ICT and semiconductor exports

Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations announced that Mexico’s upcoming general tariff hike will not apply to Taiwan-made ICT products such as semiconductors, and that it has secured current or lower tariffs on 82 key export items.

• Mexico’s tariff increase of 5–45% on over 1,400 products from non-FTA countries (effective Jan. 1, 2026) will exclude Taiwan’s ICT items (chips, servers, graphics cards, PCBs) which make up about 70% of Taiwan’s exports to Mexico, and 82 of 105 requested products will keep current or lower tariffs, including 21 auto parts, plastics, steel, and 55 items like gear boxes, chemical fiber, PVC, artificial skin, cardboard, labels, cosmetics and motorcycles.
• Taiwan raised concerns with Mexico since September via bilateral and multilateral channels; Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin noted that taxing Taiwan’s ICT goods would hurt Mexico’s server supply chain, while Taiwan’s ICT exports are protected under the WTO Information Technology Agreement, and Taiwan’s exports to Mexico reached US$7.33 million in the first 11 months of the year (up 187.28%) and US$4.75 billion for all of 2024.