ICYMI: U.S. Senators Katie Britt, Bill Hagerty, Tommy Tuberville Warn Eleventh-Hour Actions by Biden Administration’s USTR Jeopardize American National Security
‘America’s government must protect American interests’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Washington Times recently published a column written by U.S. Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) in which the lawmakers reject the Biden-Harris Administration’s dangerous, eleventh-hour effort to renegotiate a trade proposal that would undermine America’s interests and national security.
Select excepts from the column are below. The full piece is available HERE.
“The Biden Administration is working overtime to remind Americans why they voted for President-elect Donald Trump . . . one of the most harmful yet underreported measures is an effort by U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai to lock in before Jan. 20 a difficult-to-reverse trade proposal . . . Specifically, the Biden administration wants to finalize a new binding re-interpretation of our trade agreement with Canada and Mexico that would snuff out U.S. companies’ ongoing trade claims regarding unlawful actions by foreign governments.
“. . . This measure would jeopardize American national and economic security. Vulcan’s port—the only deep-water port on the Yucatan Peninsula—is a key access point to the Gulf of Mexico and ports throughout the southern U.S. Its strategic importance is enormous . . . The CCP, no doubt, has its sights set on this Yucatan port if American control is extinguished.
“America’s government must protect American interests. Congress should pass the Defending American Property Abroad Act to prohibit vessels that utilize expropriated U.S. infrastructure from entering American ports, thereby discouraging trade partners from taking advantage of us.”
The Wall Street Journal also published Senator Britt’s letter to the editor, which called attention to the Biden-Harris Administration’s closed-door negotiations. In the piece, she again advocated for her bipartisan legislation, the Defending American Property Abroad Act, which would impose retaliatory prohibitions against the Government of Mexico if it attempts to profit from the seizure of Vulcan Materials Company’s property and port facility in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Vulcan Materials Company is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.
Background:
In 2018, Vulcan initiated a NAFTA arbitration against Mexico in response to harassment, illegal land-use changes, and the unlawful shutdown of operations on a portion of the property in Quintana Roo. In May 2022, Vulcan’s production and port operations at the property were fully shut down using Mexican military force on AMLO’s orders.
On March 14, 2023, Vulcan’s port facility at Punta Venado in Quintana Roo, Mexico, was breached and confiscated at gunpoint by Mexican military and police forces. Senator Britt called out the unlawful, unacceptable seizure at the time. She then helped lead a bipartisan letter to the Ambassador of Mexico to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma, regarding the militarized seizure of the property. Following a meeting between Alabama’s congressional delegation and Ambassador Moctezuma, it was announced that Mexican forces withdrew from the property.
Following that invasion, AMLO continued to threaten to forcibly take over Vulcan’s port and limestone quarry, forcing their operations out of Mexico, despite the company’s consistent presence in Mexico for more than 35 years.
In May 2024, Senators Britt, Tim Kaine, Hagerty (D-Va.), and Tuberville wrote Alicia Bárcena, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, marking the two-year anniversary of the initial militarized shutdown of the property and urging the Government of Mexico “to reverse the actions taken against Vulcan and work towards a beneficial solution for all parties involved.”
In July 2024, Senators Britt, Kaine, Hagerty, and Tuberville condemned the issuance of a declaration that AMLO’s administration would designate Vulcan’s land and port as a naturally protected area, which would rob Vulcan of their rights to the land and ability to operate the port.
Last fall, Senators Britt, Hagerty, Kaine, Tuberville, Ted Budd (R-N.C.), and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) introduced bipartisan legislation, the Defending American Property Abroad Act.
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