FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 19, 2014
CONTACT: Phillip Hayes, 202-271-5734 (cell)
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) today announced that the U.S. and Mexican governments have reached an agreement to suspend the ongoing antidumping and countervailing duty investigations of sugar from Mexico. Phillip Hayes, a spokesman for the American Sugar Alliance, released the following statement about the settlement.
“The final suspension agreements should achieve U.S. sugar producers’ main goal by stopping Mexico from dumping subsidized sugar onto the U.S. market and violating U.S. trade law. It is a good deal for U.S. producers, U.S. taxpayers, and U.S. consumers, and we would like to thank officials at the DOC and USDA for their hard work in negotiating the agreements.
“Like our counterparts in Mexico, we want NAFTA to operate as intended and to foster free and fair trade in sugar between the countries. This settlement helps achieve that objective.”
The DOC will provide details of the agreements, which do not reopen or undermine NAFTA and will not require any changes to U.S. sugar policy in the recently passed Farm Bill.
