A World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel ruled today against some US anti-dumping measures to combat imports of Mexican stainless steel.
But the panel said the controversial method of calculating penalty duties on imports sold at unfairly low prices - known as "zeroing" - was permissible in some circumstances.
A senior diplomat in Mexico's WTO mission said the panel's report was a victory for Mexico even though the panel did not agree with some of Mexico's claims,
"We see it as a victory for the Mexican claim, as they find that zeroing is prohibited in original investigations," Carlos Vejar Borrego, an expert on trade disputes, said.
Mexico was considering whether to appeal against the panel's ruling to try and clarify the rules on anti-dumping, as the panel had backed some of the US measures, he said.
Both Mexico and the United States have 60 days to decide whether to appeal.
Several previous WTO cases have struck down zeroing, which is now a major issue in the Doha round of talks to open up world trade, pitting the United States against the European Union, Japan, China, India, Brazil, among others.