MEXICO CITY, Mexico: Mexico's government unveiled its 2026 budget proposal this week, introducing a sweeping package of new import tariffs that could reshape the country's trade landscape.

The plan targets more than 1,400 products — many of them originating in Asia — and is being framed as part of a strategy to protect domestic industry during heightened economic and geopolitical tension.

Treasury Secretary Édgar Amador presented the proposal without mentioning China by name but acknowledged that the new levies would apply to goods from nations with which Mexico does not maintain formal trade agreements.

"This is about strengthening our own productive capacity and ensuring fairer competition," Amador said, adding that the government would carefully monitor the measures' impact on consumer prices and industrial output.

Officials stressed that the tariffs will remain within the rules set by the World Trade Organization. However, the announcement comes as Mexico faces growing pressure from Washington to coordinate trade policy more closely with the United States in order to present a united economic front against Beijing.

Since the start of the year, U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled his impatience with Mexico's trade ties beyond North America, even threatening to expand the 25 percent tariffs he already imposed on goods not covered under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Amador conceded that the new budget provisions were shaped "within the discussion and future commercial conversations with our North American partners." Yet he insisted that Mexico's ultimate aim was not geopolitical alignment, but a structural shift toward boosting domestic manufacturing, reducing dependency on imports, and narrowing persistent trade deficits.

Mexico has already begun experimenting with targeted trade restrictions. Last December, the government introduced tariffs on select goods, including textiles, while also stepping up enforcement actions against counterfeit products arriving from Asia. The new proposal would significantly broaden that approach, extending tariff coverage to a wide array of manufactured goods, machinery, and consumer products.

Because President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's ruling party holds comfortable majorities in both chambers of Congress, the budget plan is expected to pass with limited resistance. However, the measures are already sparking criticism abroad. In August, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun warned Mexico against bowing to external pressure in its trade policy.

"Mexico is China's second-largest trading partner in Latin America, and China is Mexico's third-largest export destination," he said. "China firmly opposes restrictions imposed on China under various pretexts and under coercion from others, which harm China's legitimate rights and interests."