Reports note that the Department of Commerce is engaged in consultations with the Mexican government and the Mexican sugar industry to explore concerns that have been raised about the operation of the agreements. The new negotiations aim to ensure that U.S. beet and sugar cane farmers are better protected, according to Phillip Hayes, a spokesman for the American Sugar Alliance. It also could include additional requirements for refining sugar in the U.S., Hayes said, to make sure that cane sugar refiners have access to an adequate supply of raw sugar for processing.
"The suspension agreements are not market access agreements for Mexico," U.S. sugar industry lobbyists said during a meeting this week in Idaho. "They are the settlement of litigation under U.S. laws in which the government of Mexico and Mexican sugar producers were found to be guilty of injuring the U.S. sugar industry," a U.S. sugar industry spokesman said.
The 2014 suspension agreement established price limits and volume quotas for Mexican sugar exports. It was put into place following a sugar dumping investigation by the Commerce Department, which found that in 2013, Mexican sugar had been sold in the U.S. below market price between 40.48% and 42.14%. The suspension agreement also established periodic meetings two to three times a year between the relevant trade officials to discuss the progress of the suspension agreement. If the agreement is terminated, antidumping and countervailing duties of up to 80% could be applied to sugar imported from Mexico.