Sugar trade deal closer for Mexico-U.S.

Negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement over a prolonged sugar trade dispute between the United States and Mexico are continuing as a deadline approaches, Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Thursday.

Guajardo told reporters at an event in Mexico City that U.S. and Mexican negotiators have moved closer, but he added that he could not guarantee a new agreement.

Last month, the Mexican and U.S. governments agreed to extend the deadline for negotiations over sugar to June 5.

The U.S. sugar industry pressed the U.S. Commerce Department late last year to withdraw from a 2014 trade agreement that sets prices and quota for U.S. imports of Mexican sugar unless the deal could be renegotiated.

The latest twist in the sugar dispute between Mexico and the United States comes as ties between the two nations have frayed under U.S. President Donald Trump, who took office in January.

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