Beijing hopes to deter countries from siding with the US in suppressing Chinese trade.
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China opened a trade barrier investigation into Mexico after the Latin American country announced plans to place duties as high as 50% on more than 1,400 products from Asia.
Mexico said these duties are intended to protect domestic factories, with producers facing tariffs on US exports, as well as competition from cheap, Chinese goods in Mexico.
A Chinese Commerce Ministry statement claimed on Thursday that Mexico's tariffs would harm the interests of affected countries and undermine investor confidence in the Latin American country.
“China believes that, against the backdrop of the current US abuse of tariffs, all countries should jointly oppose all forms of unilateralism and protectionism and must not sacrifice the interests of third parties because of coercion,” the statement said.
It added that the tariffs would be investigated under legislation aimed at maintaining the “foreign trade order”.
The probe will look into the latest duties on textiles, cars, steel, home appliances, and other goods, as well as “other trade and investment restrictive measures implemented by Mexico in recent years involving China”.
Pecan probe
The Commerce Ministry also announced on Thursday that it was launching an anti-dumping investigation into pecans imported from Mexico and the United States.
Mexico has been under pressure from the Trump administration to limit Chinese imports, some of which the US says use Mexico as a backdoor to the American market.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said, however, that the tariffs are not the result of US pressure.
“We have a very good relationship with China and we want to keep having a good relationship with them,” she said.
Mexico imported roughly $115 billion (€98bn) worth of products from China in 2024, second only to what Mexico bought from the United States, meaning tariffs could impact the Chinese economy.
Mexico, meanwhile, only exported around $5.7bn (€4.9bn) worth of goods to China last year.
Other countries set to be hit by Mexico's tariffs include South Korea, Thailand, India, Philippines and Indonesia.
It's not clear if China's investigation into the tariffs would result in any concrete steps against Mexico.
Under the regulation governing such investigations, a finding that a trade barrier exists can lead to consultations with the other country, a settlement under a multilateral framework, and other appropriate measures.
