MEXICAN TARIFFS: Murray Calls U.S.-Mexico Agreement “Encouraging step”; Reiterates Call for Immediate End to Devastating Tariffs

(Washington,
D.C.) Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) released the following
statement after U.S. President Barack Obama and President of Mexico Felipe
Calderón announced that they had reached an agreement on a path forward for
resolving the cross-border trucking dispute and ending the retaliatory tariffs
on U.S. agricultural products. The Mexican government has committed to
suspending 50% of the tariffs once a final rule is published and an agreement
is signed. The other 50% of the tariffs will be suspended when the new program
commences.

“This is absolutely an
encouraging step forward toward resolving this issue, but I am once again
deeply disappointed that the Mexican government has refused to immediately lift
the retaliatory tariffs that are devastating farmers in my home state of
Washington.

“By
maintaining the tariffs on Washington state products like potatoes and apples,
Mexico is continuing to punish farmers and growers in my home state who have
absolutely nothing to do with this dispute.

“The Mexican government
has indicated in the past that it would end these tariffs as soon as the
negotiations were on track for a resolution. I believe we are solidly on that
path, and I once again call on the Mexican government to immediately end these
harmful tariffs and allow our farmers to compete on the level playing field
they deserve.”

• On
  January 11, 2011, Murray called the Mexican government’s response to the initial U.S. proposal
  “deeply unfair” to Washington state farmers and called on them to lift their
  tariffs immediately.

• On January 6, 2011, Murray praised
  an announcement by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood that the
  Administration will be moving forward with a proposal to negotiate an end to
  the Mexican tariffs on agricultural products in Washington state and across the
  country. Murray also called on the Mexican government to immediately end their
  tariffs now that a proposal has been put forward. 

• On
  September 28, 2010, Murray brought Secretary LaHood to
  Washington state to meet with local growers so that he
  could hear first-hand about the devastating effects Mexican tariffs are having
  on the state’s agriculture industry.

• On July 26, 2010, she included language in a key
  Senate spending bill that calls on the administration to put forward a
  plan that would end retaliatory tariffs on Washington state agricultural
  products by October 1, 2010.

• On
  May 28, 2010, Murray sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him move
  forward with a plan to end Mexican tariffs that have had a devastating impact
  on the Washington state agricultural industry. Murray sent the letter after
  President Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. During the meeting,
  the two presidents discussed the tariffs Mexico has placed on U.S. products.
  Mexico has targeted eighty-seven Washington state products in this dispute and
  hundreds of jobs have been lost.

• Prior
  to the meeting between President Obama and Mexican President Calderon, Senator Murray sent a President a letter urging him to
  use the meeting as an opportunity to work to end Mexican tariffs that have had a
  devastating impact on the Washington state farmers and families.  She has
  also spoken with senior White House officials to reemphasize that point.

• On
  May 4, 2010 Senator Murray met with the Mexican Ambassador to the
  United States Arturo Sarukhan to discuss the impact of Mexican
  tariffs on Washington state families, jobs, and agriculture industry. Murray
  urged the Mexican government to end the retaliatory tariffs that are harming
  Washington state families, and to use Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s
  upcoming visit to Washington, D.C. as an opportunity to resolve the
  differences.

• In
  early March, at a hearing of the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban
  Development Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Murray pushed Department of Transportation
  Secretary Ray LaHood to move faster on a plan to resume cross-border trucking
  with Mexico,
  urging him to resolve the situation to save American jobs while ensuring the
  safety of the public at large.

• In
  October 2009, Senator Murray hosted a meeting between Washington state farmers
  and Deputy Secretary of Transportation John Porcari to make sure he understood
  the local impact of the retaliatory tariffs.  In April of that year, she
  joined a bipartisan Senate letter to the Obama Administration urging the end of
  these punitive tariffs.