01/31/08 Sugar and NAFTA

As of January first all tariffs are gone on sugar that's imported into the United States under NAFTA. Some sugar producers on both sides of the border say its time to look at managed sugar trade between the US and Mexico. USDA Undersecretary Mark Keenum says that's not a good idea. KEENUM "If you allow individual commodities to start negotiating their own trade, managed trade conditions or arrangements you'll have other groups and other commodities that are going to come to the table and say what about us too." Keenum says in his talks with Mexican government officials there was agreement that NAFTA doesn't need to be renegotiated. KEENUM "That's the risk you run when you start allowing individual commodities trying to negotiate." So what has happened with trade between the US and Mexico since NAFTA was approved in 1993? KEENUM "The trade that we had between the United States and Mexico prior to NAFTA was around 6.4 billion dollars. At the end of 2007 our numbers indicate that the trade will be in excess of 22 billion dollars in trade and the outlook for this coming year 2008 is that we will exceed 24 billion dollars." Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott