Breaux Says U.S.-Mexico Sugar Trade Is Industry Affair

August 7, 2002

Sen. John Breaux (D-LA) told the International Sweetener Symposium that any trade agreement on sugar between the United States and Mexico will have to involve the sugar industries of both nations. He said an agreement "is not going to be reached in the backroom" by government officials.

Breaux said the government, working alone, can not resolve disputes nor reach agreements on sugar issues. "Industry people know what will work for both sides," he said.

Speaking in a later panel, Deputy Assistant Trade Representative for North America John Melle concurred with Breaux's call for industry involvement in reaching an agreement on the sugar dispute between Mexico and the United States. Melle said, "The private sector is essential to this process. Any agreement must have support of the U.S. and Mexican industries and must be seen as workable."

In his remarks to the more than 300 people attending the symposium, Breaux praised the work of the American Sugar Alliance's Mexico Task Force for working with the office of U.S. Trade Representative in advising the government on aspects of a new sugar agreement with Mexico. The Mexico Task Force, at the urging of the Mexican Secretary of the Economy, Ernesto Derbez, made several fact-finding trips to Mexico this year.

"It is the right approach for the industries on both sides to get together to recommend an agreement to their government," he said. "The industry must be involved. Any effort to do otherwise would be a mistake."

Breaux said it is in the "common interest" of both countries to work together to reach a solution. He said there are opportunities to do this now.

Since enactment of NAFTA in the early 1990s, Mexico and the United States sweetener interests have disagreed on the provisions regarding access for U.S. high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) into Mexico and Mexican sugar in the U.S.

Breaux said, "We both have it in our power to resolve this conflict." Here again he emphasized that the only practical way to do this is to have the sugar industries in the United States and Mexico work together to come up with recommendations to their respective governments. He said, "It's not going to do the Mexicans any good to sell unlimited amounts of sugar into an American market that has prices depressed by a flood of sugar."

Speaking of the new round of the World Trade Organization, or WTO, Breaux said he thought the U.S. approach to the talks is right on target.

The American Sugar Alliance, which sponsors the annual International Sweetener Symposium, is a national coalition of growers, processors and refiners of sugarbeets, sugarcane, and corn for sweetener.