U.S., Mexico moving closer to sugar trade deal
Article continues below
But there is no guarantee that an accord will be reached, Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said.
"Dialogue is continuing, nobody can guarantee we have a deal in hand," Guajardo told reporters at an event in Mexico City.
"We've done a lot of work to get one, our positions have moved closer, but we can't say yet we've got it," he added.
Last month, the Mexican and U.S. governments agreed to extend the deadline for negotiations over sugar to June 5.
Guajardo said there had been no ultimatum from his U.S. counterpart, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and that, depending on legal interpretations, the June 5 deadline might be extended.
The U.S. sugar industry is pressing the U.S. Commerce Department to withdraw from a 2014 trade agreement that sets prices and quotas for U.S. imports of Mexican sugar unless the deal is renegotiated. ■