Max, does the EPI include this 'betrayal' in its criticism of NAFTA or is this
"side letter" exactly the kind of "fair trade" for which EPI, Sweeney and you
are fighting?
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>From today's NYT:
Rodolfo Perdomo Bueno, who operates a mill company called Grupo Perno, said
that despite their outdated machinery, Mexico's refineries had increased sugar
production during the last seven years in anticipation of the opening of United
States sugar markets under Nafta.
According to the Mexican government, by last October Nafta
should have let mills export all their excess sugar, an estimated 500,000
tons, to the United States. But a so-called "side letter,"
added to the agreement by the United States but not recognized by Mexico,
limits exports to the United States to 116,000 tons to protect the American
sugar industry.
Meanwhile, Mr. Perdomo said, the Mexican sugar market is
steadily shrinking because of increasing imports of less costly high fructose
corn syrup from the United States. The syrup is preferred by Mexico's important
soft drink industry.
"We were betrayed," Mr. Perdomo said. "We are being forced
to sell our sugar wherever we can, at whatever price, so that we don't
drown in it."
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rb
