Hagstrom Report / The Fence Post: Official: NAFTA withdrawal would mean 15 cent Mexican sugar tariff

If President Donald Trump withdraws from the North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. tariff on sugar imports from Mexico would revert to the 15 cents per pound level in place before NAFTA went into effect, Jason Hafemeister, trade adviser to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, told the International Sweetener Colloquium, a meeting of sweetener users Feb. 15. Responding to a question from Rick Pasco, president of the Sweetener Users Association, Hafemeister explained that NAFTA eliminated the U.S. tariff on sugar, but Mexican sugar imports to the United States are currently restricted because the U.S. government found that Mexico was subsidizing and dumping sugar in the United States. The United States could have imposed duties, but instead reached suspension agreements with Mexico that protect the U.S. sugar industry from unfair trade, he added. … Pasco said the Sweetener Users have joined other U.S. agriculture groups in urging Trump not to withdraw from NAFTA.