Strong Leads Bipartisan Push to Block Biden Administration’s Last Minute Trade Overreach

WASHINGTON— U.S. Representative Dale Strong (AL-05) led 25 House colleagues in a bipartisan letter to President Biden regarding his Administration’s eleventh-hour attempt to undercut important industries in the State of Alabama. 

The bipartisan letter criticizes the United States Trade Representative’s actions – taken without Congressional and stakeholder input– to strip away a legal process that is currently being used by Alabama-based Vulcan Materials company to defend their property against unfair treatment by the Mexican government.  

The letter argues that President Biden’s attempt to unilaterally negotiate new interpretations of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) severely undercuts important U.S. businesses, including those in Alabama.  

“Joe Biden is spending the waning days of his presidency trying to undermine President Trump’s leverage when he takes office this month. His efforts to reinterpret the USMCA are just another example of such meddling,” said Representative Dale Strong. “This is a betrayal of the hardworking men and women who build and grow American businesses. 

BACKGROUND 

Vulcan Materials has owned and operated a limestone quarry in Mexico for over 35 years. Since 2018, the Mexican government has prohibited Vulcan from operating on two of its three parcels of land. In response, Vulcan leveraged U.S. trade law to begin arbitration proceedings to recover damages. In 2022, Mexico escalated its actions by issuing shutdown orders. In 2023, it seized Vulcan’s port in Quintana Roo, an unlawful action that directly impacts Vulcan’s ability to operate in the country. Vulcan is currently in active arbitration with the Mexican government. President Biden’s actions threaten to end that arbitration immediately by eliminating Vulcan’s ability to continue to pursue their case.