Washington, DC—Oct. 22, 2015—The U.S. sugar industry, including Minnesota’s nation-leading sugar beet producers, won a regulatory marathon as the federal government gave final approval to import restrictions on Mexican sugar.
The restrictions come despite the fact that Mexico was supposed to have open access to the U.S. sugar market as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The U.S. International Trade Commission voted unanimously that new import restrictions placed on Mexico were sufficient to address unfair Mexican government subsidies of private sugar producers and refiners that allowed them to sell at artificially low prices in the U.S. market.
The U.S. sugar industry’s complaints about Mexican government subsidies and sugar dumping were seen by some as another example of the industry’s clout. Although NAFTA passed in 1993, Mexico did not gain full access to the U.S. market until 2008 because of phase-in rules. Now, seven years later, the industry has successfully restricted Mexican imports.
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