WASHINGTON—American sugar producers today submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Commerce to ensure that the draft agreements reached between the U.S. and Mexican governments to suspend pending trade cases against Mexico's sugar industry can be effectively enforced.
"We are committed to the suspension agreement negotiations, but the agreements, as drafted, do not yet provide for effective enforcement. We remain hopeful that the negotiations can be finalized quickly, but important issues must be resolved to ensure the agreements operate as intended," said Phillip Hayes, a spokesperson for the American Sugar Alliance. "Our ultimate objective is to stop Mexico's unfair trade practices, which are injuring Americans and undermining NAFTA, and the final pact has to do that."
Hayes reiterated U.S. producers' hope to finalize remaining details and conclude settlement talks, but said the industry is confident in the strength of their antidumping and countervailing duty cases if an agreement cannot be reached.
Source: www.sugaralliance.org