Biden Sides With Mexico Over Seizing U.S. Company and Deep Water Port.

January 13, 2025 — bunkerville

Counter to American interests, Biden’s trade representatives sides with Mexico over their takeover of a U.S.company. Included is a deep water port, the only port located on the Yucatan peninsula. Worse, negotiations are taking place that will effect the U.S.- Mexico- Canada agreement and concerns are that the changes will strip protections of U.S. companies. A U.S. Trade Representative essentially supports the takeover of U.S. companies in the new agreement. Members of congress have expressed concern over the future use of the port by Mexico. Rather than environmental concerns, the takeover is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.  Should we be surprised?

 
Vulcan Materials said in a statement Tuesday that the move violates the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement. It said the measure formed part of “a series of threats and actions by the current administration against our operations.
 
“The expropriation of land and the seaport belonging to our company is another escalation and another violation of Mexico’s obligations under trade agreements,” the statement said.
 
“This illegal measure will have a long-term paralyzing effect on trade and investment relations between Mexico and the United States.”

Members of congress have written a letter to the Biden administration demanding that this issue be addressed by the Trump administration and to defer from entering into an agreement with Mexico.

A last minute attack by Biden on interfering with Vulcan & Mexico. I guess Biden wants another 10%.

Will he mention what he negotiated behind closed doors on Vulcan Materials? On how that may end up in China’s hands should Mexico then sell it to them?

López Obrador has said in the past that the most attractive part of the property was the company’s freight shipping dock — the only deep port on the coast’s mainland — which he previously said he wanted to turn into a dock for cruise ships.

Image

 

López Obrador has also said he wants to use the flooded pits that the company dug out of hundreds of acres of the limestone soil as “swimming pools” or an “ecotourism” area that would be operated as a concession by a private operator.

However, the huge quarry pits are inhabited by crocodiles, which are a protected species in Mexico.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — An American quarry company said Tuesday the Mexican government carried out a de facto expropriation of its properties on Mexico’s Caribbean coast. 

Mexico’s Interior Department issued a decree late Monday declaring the firm’s seaport and quarries to be a natural protected area, in effect prohibiting the company’s activities on its own land.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had previously threatened to expropriate the property and later offered to buy it for about $385 million, saying at the time he wanted to turn it into a tourist attraction.

The letter was sparked by reports that the U.S. Trade Representative is attempting to negotiate new provisions of the U.S. -Mexico- Canada Agreement and the U.S.-Columbia Trade Promotion Agreement. According to opponents of the move, the action would strip some investor protections from the agreement.

..

Vulcan Materials has owned and operated a limestone quarry in Mexico for more than 35 years. The Mexican government in 2018 prohibited Vulcan from operating on two of its three parcels of land. Vulcan began arbitration proceedings to recover damages.

In May 2022, the Mexican government forcibly shut down Vulcan’s operations in Mexico. About a year later, Mexican military police breached Vulcan’s port facility at gunpoint.

Former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador threatened to declare the property a natural protected area or seize it by force if Vulcan didn’t accept a $360 million offer for the gravel pits.

Vulcan maintains the Punta Venado deep-water port facility has an estimated value of more than $1 billion.

H/T:Alabama News

Well worth a listen as Hagerty describes the adverse effects and potential consequences of the seizure. 

Hagerty Calls Out USTR for Siding With Mexico in Its Seizure of Vulcan Materials’ Property. The impact on private companies could be enormous. 

One can safely say that had Trump been in office at the time of the takeover, it never would have happened. One can also say, if Biden doesn’t enter into an agreement this week, Vulcan will have their land and port back.

All is well in the swamp.

Posted in Foreign Policy, Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , . 23 Comments »