Trump Urged to Suspend Mexican Steel Tariffs Slamming US Dairy

President Donald Trump should suspend the steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexican products during North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations, as U.S. dairy exporters fear Mexico’s new tariffs will swing the door wide open for EU dairy products, said more than 60 dairy companies and trade groups in a letter to the White House this week.In retaliation for Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, Mexico added new tariffs on American-made cheeses and other products, which are expected to reach as high as 25%. Before now, U.S. dairy processors enjoyed duty-free access to the Mexican market under the trilateral NAFTA.While the companies and organizations praised the president’s tactics in calling attention to market roadblocks for U.S. dairy products in Canada, Mexico is a very different situation.“Your insistence that Canada, for example, open its closed market to U.S. dairy and halt market-distorting pricing schemes is both commendable and refreshing,” they said. ‘Unlike Canada, Mexico has long been a model for open dairy trade with the United States. Through investment and cooperation with Mexico, we have succeeded in becoming the country’s biggest foreign dairy supplier, with cheese purchases last year alone totaling nearly $400 million,” farmers and cheese makers said in the June 26 letter to Trump.But the U.S. market in Mexico is in “grave jeopardy.” And, “our competitors in the European Union will use this opportunity in the wake of their recently concluded Free Trade Agreement with Mexico to gain market share,” said U.S. dairy companies