U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted about a new sugar trade deal with Mexico.
"New Sugar deal negotiated with Mexico is a very good one for both Mexico and the U.S.," according to a tweet by President Donald Trump on Thursday. "Had no deal for many years which hurt U.S. badly."
The United States and Mexico announce an agreement in principle on the deal earlier this month.
The U.S. sugar industry announced its support for a new trade deal with Mexico after initially opposing the long-awaited agreement. The American Sugar Alliance, representing farmers and producers of sugar, told the Commerce department that it will support the “tightened” deal aimed at bringing Mexico’s sugar industry into compliance with U.S. law.
"We've had productive conversations with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross over the past week, and we recognize that he is 100 percent dedicated to ending the job loss and injury caused by Mexico's predatory trade practices," the trade group’s spokesman, Philip Hays, said in a statement.
According to sugar refiners in the U.S., Mexico was exporting low-cost refined sugar to the United States and limiting exports of raw sugar that could be refined in the United States. Sugar producers in the United States estimate that they have lost more than $4 billion because Mexico has been oversupplying the market with subsidized sugar.
The agreement will increase the price at which raw and refined sugar is sold to Mexican mills and decreases Mexico’s refined sugar exports to the U.S. In return the United States will suspend duties on Mexican sugar imports.
The domestic sugar industry has been pressing for a new agreement after a 2014 deal failed to rein in Mexico’s trade violations.