Sugar is fairly big down here in Palm Beach County. My local paper just ran a story on the recent lobbying efforts to moderate the effect of free trade in sugar between the U.S. and Mexico pursuant to NAFTA, by putting up various new trade barriers. The article notes the following concerns expressed by sugar producers:
On one side of the battle are the sugar industries of the U.S. and Mexico. They say that unless the NAFTA provision, which went into effect last month, is modified to sharply limit the sugar trade, there's a prospect of "market chaos" leading to a crash of sugar prices in both countries.
...
Jack Roney, director of economics and policy analysis for the American Sugar Alliance, said implementing NAFTA as written could cause "a downward price spiral" for sugar in both countries.
I couldn't help thinking: Wasn't a "crash of sugar prices" and "a downward price spiral" the whole point?
