Los Angeles, CA – Several national industry groups representing candy makers, soda companies, and other food manufacturers are urging Washington to reject pressure to negotiate a trade deal with Mexico to end a months-long dispute over allegations of cheap sweetener imports from south of the border.

In a recent letter to several top US trade officials, several national business groups including the Coalition for Sugar Reform, the American Beverage Association, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association said any move to restrict imports “could incite retaliation from Mexico on other products, undermine free trade across the continent under the North American Free Trade Act, and threaten over $220 billion in US exports to Mexico.”

Such a move by Washington, the letter said, would “jeopardize this robust trading relationship [with Mexico] by providing US sugar producers with even more insulation from market forces.”

The joint letter, addressed to US Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and US Trade Representative Michael Froman, cited “troubling rumors” that pressure is being applied on the government to hammer out a deal that would include trade barriers.

The communication is seen as the latest indication of escalating tensions in the US sugar industry between sugar producers that favor restricting imports or implementing dumping duties and end-users who oppose any change to NAFTA that allows Mexico to import sugar duty-free in the otherwise protected American market.

US sugar producers filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission earlier this year charging Mexico with dumping sugar on the US market. Two months later, Vilsack said he would “encourage a negotiated agreement” that “could set a ceiling on Mexican sugar imports, which are currently unrestricted.”

The letter also said an agreement could threaten the completion of negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the ambitious Pacific trade pact.

07/28/2014