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Mexico imposes tariffs on $3 billion worth of US exports

Posted at 11:15 AM, Jun 06, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-06 11:15:36-04

(CNN Money) — The US trade dispute with Mexico is heating up.

In retaliation for the Trump administration announcing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Mexico and much of the rest of the world, Mexico Tuesday imposed a series of tariffs against US exports to its market valued at $3 billion. They’ll hike the price of products including pork, apples, potatoes, bourbon as well as different types of cheese.

The tariffs range between 15% and 25%, which could raise the price of US goods by that amount, cutting deeply into US exports to its neighbor.

“It is necessary and urgent to impose measures equivalent to the measures implemented by” the US, said the statement issued by the Mexican government. Mexico had signaled last week that it intended to retaliate against the US steel and aluminum tariffs.

While Mexico exports more goods and services to the US than it buys, it is also the second largest market for US exports, buying $277 billion worth of US goods and services last year, according to the Commerce Department. That means the tariffs imposed Tuesday will affect just more than 1% of US exports to that market.

That put it behind only Canada in terms of the value of US exports.

NAFTA generally keeps the US, Mexico and Canada from imposing tariffs on imports from one another. But President Donald Trump has been a fierce critic of NAFTA, and the three countries are holding negotiations on possible changes to the free trade deal.

The threat of retaliatory tariffs by US trading partners is a major reason that the US Chamber of Commerce says that 2.6 million jobs are threatened by the Trump administration’s hardline stance on imports. According to a survey of US CEOs, many are scaling back their hiring and spending plans due to fears of a trade war.