[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 142 (Thursday, September 12, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H5216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   PROTECTING PROPERTY RIGHTS ABROAD

  (Mr. PFLUGER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PFLUGER. Mr. Speaker, U.S.-Mexico relations are at risk as 
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador continues to take unprecedented 
and irresponsible steps to unlawfully seize American property. 
President AMLO is planning to take control of a quarry and port owned 
by Vulcan Materials Company on the Caribbean coast of Mexico.
  Vulcan has been in litigation and arbitration with Mexico since 2018, 
under NAFTA and then the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. Yet still, 
President AMLO has taken a vendetta against the company, continuously 
trying to expropriate the American company's property and operations 
and making claims of environmental damages.
  My legislation, the Defending American Property Abroad Act, would 
protect U.S. companies in the Western Hemisphere experiencing similar 
attempts at expropriation so economic growth and national security may 
continue.
  American companies operating abroad should not have to fear arbitrary 
government actions that undermine their property rights. This is a 
gross abuse by the Mexican Government and sets a dangerous precedent 
for other American companies operating in Mexico.

                          ____________________