An ad hoc coalition including the National Pork Producers Council and 140 other business, manufacturing and agricultural organizations, sent a letter Tuesday to President Obama urging him to quickly resolve a dispute with Mexico over allowing its trucks to transport goods into the United States.
“We need to get this trucking issue resolved,” NPPC President Don Butler said in a statement on the group’s Web site.
“Although U.S. pork products were not included on the retaliation list, they could be in the future, and, more importantly, our trading partners need assurance that the United States will live up its trade obligations,” he said.
“On March 19, the Mexican government instituted retaliatory tariffs on $2.4 billion worth of U.S. manufactured and agricultural exports,” the letter stated.
The groups urged the Obama administration “to work expeditiously to resolve this dispute and ensure the United States is upholding its bilateral trade obligations with Mexico.”
Other groups and companies that signed the letter included the Business Roundtable, Caterpillar Inc., General Electric and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last month the U.S. is “working very hard to achieve a resolution” to the dispute that led to Mexico imposing tariffs on U.S. goods valued at more than $2 billion, and President Obama is scheduled to visit Mexico later this month.
