Sugar producers skeptical of deal with Mexico

The United States and Mexico reached a new deal Tuesday on allowing Mexican sugar access to U.S. markets, but it's not being endorsed by the U.S. sugar industry.

U.S. sugar producers like Minnesota-based American Crystal Sugar have complained for years that Mexico was violating the North American Free Trade Agreement by dumping subsidized sugar, and driving down prices.

The sugar industry says that's cost sugar cane and sugar beet farmers $4 billion in the past four years.

The new deal reached Tuesday "protects American workers and consumers and marks a dramatic improvement for the U.S. sugar industry," said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

But a trade group representing U.S. cane and beet sugar producers complained the deal has a major loophole.

"This loophole takes away the existing power of the U.S. government to determine the type and polarity of any additional sugar that needs to be imported and cedes that power to the Mexican government," read a statement from the American Sugar Alliance.

"Mexico could exploit this loophole to continue to dump subsidized sugar into the U.S. market and short U.S. refineries of raw sugar inputs," the statement said.

The Alliance said it intends to work with the Trump administration in an effort to close the loophole.