Mexico Deadline Arrives for U.S. on Sugar Imports

Mexico has given the United States until today to accept imports of its surplus sugar or it would take the dispute before a North American Free Trade Agreement arbitration panel, a sugar official said. “If the American proposals . . . are not satisfactory, . . . we will request an arbitration panel,” said Carlos Seoane, president of Mexico’s National Sugar and Alcohol Chamber, after a meeting with the trade ministry last week. The sugar official said Mexico could retaliate against an unfavorable U.S. decision by blocking imports of high-fructose corn syrup from its northern neighbor. “We would block the entry of fructose, allowing no more fructose imports to Mexico.” Seoane said. The statements follow U.S.-Mexico talks in Steamboat Springs, Colo., last week in which the two nations tried to reach agreement on how much Mexican sugar should be allowed into the U.S. under NAFTA regulations. Jeff Lang of the U.S. industry group American Sugar Alliance said that if Mexico were to be allowed to export all of its sugar surplus to the U.S., it would “destroy the U.S. sugar industry.”