Tariffs Add More Turmoil to Dysfunctional US-Mexico Sugar Trade

Years of droughts in Mexico have already fractured its sugar exports to the US. Now President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs risk making the once-lucrative trade relationship even worse for America’s top foreign supplier of the commodity.

Trade agreements between the two nations were meant to create a reliable flow of affordable sugar to the US. But the system has unraveled, with more imports now coming from everywhere else. Shipments from Mexico are expected to fall to a 17-year low in 2025, leaving the Latin American nation with a smaller sliver of the market than it expected.