What European goods actually pay to enter Mexico

Most European industrial and consumer goods enter Mexico at zero duty. Not because Mexico is a low-tariff country, but because the EU and Mexico have had a free trade agreement since 2000 and you are entitled to use it. The condition is that you can prove origin at the border, which is a paperwork problem rather than a tax one.

That distinction matters more in 2026 than it has for years, because Mexico spent the last nine months raising its general tariff and most of the coverage of that has been written for companies who cannot use an agreement.

The two 2026 tariff decrees, and why they are not aimed at you

A congressional decree published in the Diario Oficial de la Federacion on 29 December 2025, in force from 1 January 2026, set ad valorem import duties of between 5 and 50 per cent on 1,463 tariff fractions. The sectors are plastics, steel, automotive, textiles, footwear and furniture. The distribution is lopsided: 669 fractions landed at 25 per cent and 612 at 35 per cent, with the 50 per cent rate reserved for a short list of steel products and vehicles.

A second decree, this time from the executive under article 131 of the constitution, was published on 23 April 2026 and took effect the following day. It covered 185 further fractions at rates between 5 and 35 per cent, across chemicals and cosmetics, paper and board, aluminium manufactures, auto parts, electrical materials, bicycles, musical instruments and furniture.

Two things about these decrees are routinely misreported.

They set the rate. They do not add it. The operative article of the December decree modifies las cuotas of the listed fractions "para quedar como sigue", followed by the resulting rate. A fraction listed at 35 per cent now carries a 35 per cent duty. It has not gone up by 35 percentage points. A good deal of the English-language commentary reads the other way.

They amend the general tariff only. The April decree says so expressly: goods originating in a country with which Mexico has a trade agreement, and which meet that agreement's requirements, continue to receive the preferential treatment provided in it. The December decree is silent on the point, not because it excludes treaty partners but because preferential rates live in the separate implementing decrees for each agreement rather than in the general schedule. The December decree's fourth transitory article points in the same direction: it authorises the Secretaria de Economia to create instruments for imports from countries Mexico does not have a free trade agreement with, which is a fairly direct statement of who the measure is for.

So if you ship from the EU and your goods qualify as originating, your position did not change on 1 January or on 24 April. Your Chinese, Indian, Korean and Vietnamese competitors' position changed a great deal. Your relative landed cost improved this year without you doing anything.

What you actually pay

Four things can be charged at the Mexican border. Only one of them is usually a tariff.

Duty. Zero on most EU-origin industrial goods under the Global Agreement, subject to proof of origin. Some agricultural and food lines are excluded or carry quotas. Check your own tariff fraction rather than assuming; the agreement's schedule is specific and the fraction, not the product description, is what governs.

IVA at 16 per cent. This is the number that surprises people. Value added tax is charged on imports under the Ley del Impuesto al Valor Agregado, and the taxable base is the customs value plus the duty and any other charges payable on importation. A duty-free line is not a tax-free line. IVA is recoverable by a registered Mexican importer against its output tax, so for a distributor it is a cash flow item rather than a cost. For a European company with no Mexican registration it is neither, because you are not the importer. See below.

The derecho de tramite aduanero. A customs processing fee under article 49 of the Ley Federal de Derechos. For an ordinary definitive import, fraccion I charges 8 al millar, that is 0.8 per cent, of the customs value. Fracciones III to VIII apply fixed peso amounts instead in defined cases, and those amounts are restated each year in Anexo 4 of the Resolucion Miscelanea Fiscal. Article 49 itself was last reformed in the Diario Oficial de la Federacion on 29 December 2023, in force from 1 January 2024, which added a fixed fee where a treaty prohibits an ad valorem charge. Confirm which fraccion your operation falls under before you budget.

Broker and handling. A Mexican customs broker, the agente aduanal, is in practice required and is paid a percentage of the customs value. This is a commercial fee, not a tax.

A worked example

Take a consignment of European-origin industrial equipment with a customs value of 100,000 euros, entering at a fraction that is duty free under the Global Agreement.

• Customs value: 100,000
• Duty at 0 per cent: 0
• IVA base: 100,000
• IVA at 16 per cent: 16,000
• Customs processing fee: 800, being 8 al millar of the customs value
• Broker fee and handling: commercial, negotiated

Now run the same consignment without a valid origin proof. If your fraction sits at the general rate and that rate is 25 per cent, the duty is 25,000, the IVA base becomes 125,000, and the IVA is 20,000. The origin document is worth 25,000 euros in real cost on a 100,000 euro shipment, plus another 4,000 tied up in IVA until it is recovered. That is the entire argument for taking origin paperwork seriously, and it is why the next section is the one that costs people money.

The origin proof is the whole game

Under the agreement in force today, preferential treatment is claimed with a EUR.1 movement certificate issued by your customs authority, or with an invoice declaration made out by the exporter. The rules of origin themselves are product specific: a change of tariff heading for some goods, a value-added threshold for others. Meeting them is a manufacturing question, not a shipping question, and it needs answering before you quote.

This is changing, and the mechanics are a subject in their own right. We have set out what applies today, what the modernised agreement is expected to replace it with, and when, in how to prove EU origin to Mexican customs. Keep the treaty timetable in one place rather than two, because it is the most perishable statement on this site and two copies will drift apart.

You will not be the importer

One more structural point, because it changes who bears all of the above. A foreign company generally cannot act as the importer of record in Mexico. Importing requires registration in the Padron de Importadores, which requires an RFC, which in practice requires a Mexican establishment. In the ordinary case your distributor or customer imports, which means they pay the duty and the IVA, they recover the IVA, and they hold the relationship with the customs authority.

That has consequences well beyond tax. We have set them out in why a European company cannot be its own importer in Mexico and in do you need a Mexican company to sell in Mexico.

Common questions

Do the 2026 Mexican tariff increases apply to European goods?

No, not where the goods qualify as EU originating and you present a valid origin proof. Both decrees amend the general tariff. The April 2026 decree states expressly that goods originating in a country with a trade agreement keep their preferential treatment, and the December 2025 decree's fourth transitory article directs the Secretaria de Economia towards instruments for countries without an agreement.

Is IVA charged on duty-free imports into Mexico?

Yes. IVA at 16 per cent is charged on the customs value plus any duty and other charges payable on importation, so a zero-duty line still attracts 16 per cent. A registered Mexican importer recovers it against output tax, so it is a cash flow cost rather than an absolute one, but it has to be funded.

Can I import into Mexico myself as a European company?

In practice no. Importing requires registration in the Padron de Importadores and an RFC, and both point to a Mexican establishment. Almost all European exporters ship to a Mexican importer of record, usually their distributor or their own subsidiary.