NAFTA members discuss harmonizing steel tariff

Mexico's government aims to harmonize trade tariffs for the steel and textile industries among the three members of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), local newspaper El Financiero reported. However, Mexico is not seeking to harmonize tariffs for all industrial sectors, government officials said. Representatives from Mexico, the US and Canada began analyzing the possibility of harmonizing tariffs for the steel and textile sectors during the summit of NAFTA leaders last week, Mexico's economy minister Fernando Canales was reported as saying. Countries could follow the example of the motor industry, where finished vehicles and motor parts can pass between the borders of the three countries without encountering different tariffs. Mexico's undersecretary of trade negotiations Ángel Villalobos said the idea is not to establish a unified customs system between the three countries but to bring together certain sectors where duties are already similar.