Mexico shifts policy on red meat imports, opens pork investigation

Mexico adopted this policy in May 2022 in an effort to combat food price inflation. Because U.S. and Canadian red meat had already gained duty-free access to Mexico through NAFTA and it was maintained in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the main beneficiary was Brazil. In 2025 (through November), Brazil reported beef exports to Mexico of 113,000 metric tons, making Brazil the leading volume supplier of beef muscle cuts to the Mexican market. Brazil’s pork exports to Mexico during the same period reached 74,000 mt. This ranked third behind the U.S. and Canada, but Brazil’s share of Mexico’s imported pork market is still relatively small – estimated at 4%.

The new year brought a significant shift in Mexico’s red meat import policy, as Mexico did not fully extend its duty-free treatment of all imports. The change means Mexico will operate more like it had prior to May 2022, implementing temporary duty-free tariff rate quotas for imports of beef and pork from non-FTA countries. Beyond the allotted TRQs, Mexico’s most favored nation tariff rates – which are 25% for frozen beef and 20% for frozen pork – will be applied. The change will not affect imports from the U.S. or Canada.

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Mexico recently published the TRQs for 2026, opening access for imports of 70,000 mt of chilled and frozen beef and 51,000 mt of chilled and frozen pork. While the quotas are open to all eligible suppliers they are mainly relevant for Brazil, which is the dominant non-FTA supplier of beef and pork to Mexico. Note that the TRQ volumes, which will be applied from Jan. 6 through Dec. 31, are smaller than Brazil’s reported exports to Mexico from January through November of last year.

Mexico launches antidumping and anti-subsidy investigation on U.S. hams and pork shoulders

While the U.S. could benefit from Mexico’s shift in tariff policy, another proceeding has emerged that is of great concern to the U.S. pork industry. In mid-December, Mexico’s Ministry of Economy published a resolution declaring the start of an antidumping and anti-subsidy investigation on imports of U.S. hams and pork shoulders. The period under investigation is calendar year 2024, and the period for damage analysis is Jan. 1, 2022 through Dec. 31, 2024.

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Mexico established a period of just 23 business days for interested parties to prove their legal interest and submit responses to requests for information, which means key deadlines are approaching in early February. The U.S. Meat Export Federation is currently assisting exporters in preparing responses, as well as working closely with U.S. trade officials.

“While USMEF sees no factual basis for Mexico’s investigation, it is imperative that U.S. exporters take this proceeding seriously and submit substantive responses to Mexico’s requests for information,” said Erin Borror, USMEF vice president for economic analysis.

Borror explained that it is critical for the U.S. industry to avoid antidumping and countervailing duties on Mexico’s imports of U.S. pork.

“The last time we faced a situation similar to this was in 2018 and 2019, when Mexico imposed a 20% retaliatory duty on U.S. pork muscle cuts,” Borror noted. “Those duties were in place for about one year, and cost the U.S. industry more than $1 billion in losses. That’s a scenario we cannot see repeated.”