Thread: Mexico Revising Tariffs On U.S. Goods In Truck Fight

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6 ... 6564174:z0

Mexico revising tariffs on U.S. goods in truck fight


Fri, Aug 6 2010Related TopicsPolitics »
Mexico »
By Mica Rosenberg

MEXICO CITY | Mon Aug 16, 2010 5:58pm EDT

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico announced revisions on Monday to a list of U.S. products subject to retaliatory tariffs as it steps up pressure on Washington to settle a long-running dispute keeping Mexican trucks off U.S. roads.

The government of President Felipe Calderon was infuriated last year when U.S. lawmakers voted to cancel funding for a pilot begun under U.S. President George W. Bush allowing long-haul Mexican trucks to circulate in the United States.

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which took effect in 1994, the United States agreed to open its market to Mexican trucks. Mexico said the United States was not living up to its end of the deal and retaliated by imposing duties on a long list of U.S. exports, including fruit, vegetables and industrial goods.

Mexico's Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari said despite the clampdown on certain U.S. products, negotiations were still stalled, forcing Mexico to take new action.

"Mexico has not received a formal proposal to resolve this situation, which is affecting Mexican truckers and has hurt trade and competitiveness in North America," Ferrari said.

"We are not delaying this any more. This cannot continue," he told a news conference.

Ferrari said the new list will be published in Mexico's Official Gazette this week and a source at the economy ministry said it could be on Thursday.

The plan is to remove certain U.S. products and add others, including pork, with out significantly changing the total value of trade from around $2.5 billion, a limit stipulated by the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Ferrari said Mexico will continue revising the list in this way to affect a broader spectrum of U.S. goods until the dispute is resolved. The aim is to pressure U.S. businesses affected by the ban to push the government to take action.

PORK HIT

Ricardo Alday, the spokesman for Mexico's embassy in Washington, said pork was one of the 54 U.S. agricultural items that would be on the revised list, worrying the U.S. pork industry. It was not clear what specific type of pork products would be included.

The National Pork Producers Council said it had been urging the Obama administration to work with Congress to resolve the issue with Mexico but was disappointed by the lack of progress. The council said the retaliatory tariff was unlikely to be high enough to stop the flow of exports to the market, which is no. 2 market by value.

Hog-market analysts and traders said depending on the amount of Mexican duties, it could be a big hit to the pork industry.

"Taking Mexico out completely would knock off $4 to $8 off (cash) lean hog prices," Rich Nelson from Allendal Inc said. "If there are moderate duties applied, meaning an extra 20 to 40 percent, we could probably take off $2 to $3."

U.S. pork exports increased 29 percent this year-to-date compared to 2009, Nelson said.

"With current prices of various pork cuts being so high, any extraneous event that can affect demand is going to be significant," said Dan Norcini, an independent hog trader.

U.S. business groups say the dispute has threatened thousands of U.S. jobs and hit bi-lateral trade.

While Congress terminated the trucking program on the basis of safety concerns, critics accuse lawmakers of bowing to protectionist pressures from the U.S. Teamsters union.

Mexico's embassy in Washington said the revised list will include 99 products.

An official familiar with the details said only one agricultural item would be removed from the list: peanuts, while several agricultural and food items would be added including some cheeses, sweet corn, oranges, grapefruits, chewing gums and some chocolates.

Several manufactured items would be removed from an earlier list like telephone equipment, metal furniture, certain textiles and paper products, locks and some carpets, said the official.

Ferrari said the aim was to slap tariffs on goods that would not affect Mexican consumers' basic basket of food items or hit Mexican industry. The idea is to affect products that come from all across the United States, he said.

I say B*(^ S(*&^ Since NAFTA was created we have been paying out the yingyang for all the ILLEGALS now in this country and still crossing the borders. We are not saving anything with Mexico by allowing their trucksinto the USA.

protectionist pressures from the U.S. Teamsters union.

And pressure from the citizens of this country!

I knew in 95 that NAFTA would only serve BUSH's BORDER BUDIES

And we allready have enough UNsafe trucks on the road.
sorry Teamsters