U.S. Mexico Sugar Dispute and Trump Paris Accord Promise
From the Ag Information Network, I'm Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.**The U.S. seems to have the upper hand in the sugar dispute with Mexico because, according to industry officials, its refiners would be happy to get their needed imports from elsewhere.
The U.S. is demanding Mexico agree to a new suspension agreement that limits the amount of Mexican sugar exports in return for U.S. willingness to forgo antidumping and countervailing duties.
Under the current agreement, Mexico is allowed to export up to 53 percent of its sugar as refined product, but now the U.S. is demanding that limit be lowered to just 15 percent, with the remaining 85 percent to be raw.
**President Trump may announce at the G7 meeting this week whether he'll carry out his campaign promise to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. With this deadline in sight, advocates on both sides are lobbying hard for their positions.
One possible sign of a pro-Paris decision is that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson joined Russia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden recently in signing the Arctic Council's Fairbanks Declaration.
**The first shipment of U.S. rice to Cuba in nine years apparently passed unnoticed in the ongoing debate over trade with the island nation. The comparatively small cargo of 157.8 ton of parboiled rice, some mixed with grain, was worth $252,000 and sailed from the Houston area.
Far larger rice sales, with a cumulative value of nearly $191 million, were recorded from 2002 to 2008.