[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 190 (Friday, December 20, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7269-S7273]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                 Defending American Property Abroad Act

  Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I am here today to discuss worrying 
developments in Mexico, our neighbors to the south, and to promote a 
solution in which we can all work together in the next Congress.
  Sadly, I also need to call out actions by our own U.S. trade 
representative that would directly undermine American companies facing 
threats from Mexico by allowing the Mexican government to expropriate 
their properties.
  Under the leadership of Mexico's previous President, Andres Manuel 
Lopez Obrador--colloquially known as ``AMLO''--and current President 
Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican government is committing a blatant theft 
against a major America company and, by extension, the United States 
itself.
  Earlier this year, AMLO launched an aggressive campaign of 
intimidation and ``lawfare'' to support the outright theft of assets in 
Mexico belonging to Vulcan Materials, an Alabama-based company that has 
been a trusted partner in our Nation's infrastructure development for 
decades. Vulcan built and operated the only deepwater port on the 
Yucatan Peninsula and has used it to supply the crushed limestone 
essential to infrastructure projects from Florida to California.
  Vulcan's operations in Mexico are not just a business venture; they 
form

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a critical link in our supply chain and a testament to the importance 
of American investment in Mexico.
  But AMLO decided that he wanted Vulcan's assets for himself. Cloaking 
his true intentions under the facade of environmental claims, AMLO shut 
down Vulcan's operations and sent armed law enforcement and the 
military to intimidate Vulcan's employees. And now, under his 
handpicked successor, President Sheinbaum, Mexico is now seizing 
Vulcan's deepwater port.
  President Sheinbaum now seeks to finalize this theft by declaring the 
property a naturally protected area.
  Let's call this what it is: Corruption dressed up as 
environmentalism. This is not protection. It is plunder. Lending any 
credence to this authorization is absurd.
  These actions violate international norms. They ignore contractual 
obligations. They trample over U.S.-Canada-Mexico Free Trade Agreement, 
again, an agreement where America actually gives preferential trade 
treatment to Mexico.
  Surely America's government is standing up for her own Nation's 
interest in the face of this brazen misconduct by the government of 
Mexico, right? Sadly, no. A key reason for the current circumstances is 
an absence of American leadership, especially at the Office of the U.S. 
Trade Representative. America's top trade representatives--or America's 
top trade negotiator, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, along 
with our State Department, have stood idly by while AMLO and Sheinbaum 
have escalated their anti-trade and anti-American agenda.
  Their inaction has sent a dangerous signal that the United States 
will allow its businesses around the world to be bullied, its laws to 
be ignored, and its negotiated agreements to be undermined.
  And it gets worse. Now, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, we 
are learning that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is siding 
with Mexico against the interests of U.S. firms by reinterpreting trade 
rules in a way that will erode the rights of American investors whose 
property was either confiscated or expropriated.
  According to news reports, USTR wants to limit the ability to seek 
redress by American companies whose property is expropriated.
  I stand here before my colleagues in the Senate asking why neither 
Congress nor the U.S. companies that would be impacted by these actions 
were ever consulted before the USTR stealthily moved to alter the USMCA 
agreement in a manner that undermines American interest.
  Ambassador Tai and USTR leadership need to clearly understand how 
negatively their actions will be viewed by this Congress. I can assure 
you, they will not be forgotten.
  Making last minute, 11th-hour changes to U.S. trade agreements 
without review from Congress or the U.S. companies that would be 
negatively impacted is outright malpractice. It is a slap in the face 
of American investors and employers who have risked their capital 
overseas, and it will drive scarcity and inflation of critical 
infrastructure materials in the United States if Mexico is allowed to 
confiscate these assets, including a very strategic deepwater port.
  The implications of Mexico's theft and the failure of U.S. trade 
officials to defend America's interest go far beyond Vulcan materials. 
They directly attack the foundational principles of reciprocal trade, 
investor protection, and the rule of law.
  If Mexico is allowed to target, without repercussion, a company like 
Vulcan, one that employs thousands of Americans and has operated 
responsibly in Mexico for decades, that means no American business is 
safe in Mexico. This kind of lawlessness will shatter investor 
confidence in Mexico. Why would any U.S. company risk capital in a 
country where contracts are meaningless, regulations are weaponized, 
and property can be seized at the government's whim?
  This erosion of trust threatens not only American jobs, but also the 
economic integration of North America, which many think is vital to our 
national security and our global competitiveness.
  Let's remember what the USMCA was supposed to be: a safeguard for 
trade and investment, a framework to protect the rule of law, and a 
cornerstone of North American prosperity.
  AMLO and Sheinbaum have shredded the spirit of this agreement by 
expropriating Vulcan's port and its property and by pursuing an anti-
investor agenda. AMLO and Sheinbaum are acting like saboteurs of the 
partnership that binds our two nations.
  Congress must respond with strength and resolve, rather than roll 
over under the ruse of environmentalism. The U.S. Trade Representative 
should follow its duty as stated on its own website to protect American 
rights under our trade agreements and ``ensure that American workers, 
farmers, ranchers, and businesses receive the maximum benefit under our 
international trade agreement.'' What USTR is contemplating now is 
anything but that.
  That is why my colleagues and I are fully committed to passing S. 
5137, the Defending American Property Abroad Act. This legislation will 
ensure that those who benefit from stolen American assets, whether they 
be individuals or governments, face substantial consequences.
  The Defending American Property Abroad Act will prohibit vessels that 
utilize expropriated American infrastructure from ever entering U.S. 
ports. It will bar such facilities from U.S. trade and mandate a full 
accounting of these violations in the upcoming 2026 USMCA review. The 
Defending American Property Abroad Act will make clear to President 
Sheinbaum that the United States will not tolerate the theft of 
American property.
  AMLO and Sheinbaum must understand that their actions will have 
serious consequences. I will not stand by as Mexico betrays its 
commitments and undermines decades of cooperation.
  The United States must defend its companies, its workers, and its 
principles with unwavering strength. That is why I am calling on my 
colleagues to join me in urgently finalizing and passing the Defending 
American Property Abroad Act in the next Congress. This cannot wait.
  Mexico's actions are a test of our resolve. If we fail to respond 
decisively, we will invite further aggression, not just from Mexico but 
from every foreign leader watching to see if America will defend its 
interests. The United States should never be bullied, stolen from, or 
too feckless to respond to efforts to undermine its strength and 
sovereignty.
  And here at home, USTR leadership must immediately reverse course 
from its plan to renegotiate trade rules and pull the rug from under 
U.S. firms--a particularly disgraceful capstone, I might say, for the 
reputation of this outgoing administration.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I am glad to be here with my colleagues 
from Tennessee and Alabama to speak about this Mexican government's 
unfair, discriminatory treatment of Vulcan Materials and to encourage 
colleagues to support the Defending American Property Abroad Act.
  Before I get into the details--and I see I am engendering an amazing 
response from the Gallery--I do want to say, I was a strong supporter 
of the USMCA. NAFTA was 20 years old. And any deal after 20 years, you 
would have learned what worked, what didn't, how to make it better. And 
I viewed USMCA as a significant achievement of the Trump 
administration, which I was glad to support. It got the overwhelming 
and bipartisan support of this body as well as the House.
  I am very worried about incursions into this deal. We will have 
plenty of time to talk next year about one worry I have, which is the 
incoming administration's proposal to levy tariffs against Canada and 
Mexico. My thought is: Once you have a trade agreement that is a state-
of-the-art trade agreement that has been voted for by an overwhelming 
bipartisan majority, that gives you an avenue of communication that you 
should be able to use with Canada and Mexico, and you shouldn't need to 
use tariffs against these trade partners. You should use the framework 
of the agreement to resolve disputes that you have.
  But that is a matter for another day. Today, I want to talk about, in 
some detail, the matter that my friend and colleague Senator Hagerty 
raised,

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which is the treatment of Vulcan Materials. And it is not just the 
treatment of Vulcan, but what it might say either about the Mexican 
government's treatment of American companies generally or, frankly, the 
American government's posture of either battling to protect American 
companies or standing by while they are mistreated.
  Vulcan is headquartered in Alabama--I see colleagues from Alabama on 
the floor--but employs over a thousand people in Virginia, nearly 70 
facilities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Vulcan has been operating 
in the Yucatan Peninsula for more than 30 years.
  Senator Hagerty and I came to the floor to talk about this matter a 
number of months ago in the hopes that we might be able to avert what 
the AMLO administration has done. But, nevertheless, even in a 
transition of government, Mexico has continued to ratchet up efforts to 
seize Vulcan's property in the Yucatan.
  These actions against Vulcan were initiated, to be sure, by the Lopez 
Obrador administration. But with the inauguration of the new President 
Sheinbaum earlier in 2024, these efforts that would continue to degrade 
the rule of law in Mexico continue. They are chilling investor 
confidence. They are making Mexico a more challenging place for 
American firms to do business.
  In August, I joined Senators Cardin, Risch, and Rubio in expressing 
our deep concern over proposed constitutional reforms in Mexico. 
Separate and apart from the matter of Vulcan, there is a larger context 
of actions in Mexico that should cause us some significant concerns. 
There is a judicial reform underway in Mexico promoted by the AMLO 
administration that was widely viewed by civil actors within Mexico, 
human rights and other organizations, as an effort to undermine the 
independence of the judiciary and make it harder for the Mexican 
judiciary to stand up against actions, illegal actions, by the Mexican 
government.
  We strongly urged the AMLO administration in this bipartisan letter, 
as well as the incoming administration, to pursue only reforms that 
enhanced the professionalism and the independence of the judiciary; 
but, unfortunately, neither administration has heeded our call and, 
instead, moved forward on implementing reforms that weaken the 
independence of the Mexican judiciary.
  Taken together, the direct bad-faith actions against Vulcan and the 
two administrations' insistence on degrading the independence of the 
Mexican judiciary are jeopardizing critical economic security interests 
of both of our nations.
  Mexico is one of the top three trade partners of the United States, 
whether you measure by outgoing or incoming top three; and, certainly, 
it is the same in Virginia. Our two countries have a long history of 
friendship, and our cultural ties run deep.
  The NAFTA, followed by USMCA, have integrated supply chains in the 
United States, Canada, and Mexico in a degree that I view as generally 
positive. We do share essential traditions of democracy, and they 
require consistent work to ensure strong and independent institutions.
  Looking more closely at the USMCA in particular, my colleague talked 
about worries that rules are being renegotiated around the resolution 
of disputes that would make it harder for Vulcan and companies like 
Vulcan to seek assistance.
  We have been in this Free Trade Agreement for three decades now. In 
exchange for preferential access to American markets, which has 
resulted in the intertwined supply chain that I described, Mexico has 
committed to uphold certain standards that American workers, consumers, 
companies, and investors expect. The standards were reinforced and 
strengthened in the USMCA in 2019. They include robust protection for 
workers, for the environment, and for companies operating abroad. And 
the standards not only protect Americans but promote economic growth in 
Mexico, helping address the root causes of migration and other 
challenges.
  The protections for American investments, for instance, give 
certainty to other companies and investors looking to participate in 
helping grow and expand the Mexican economy.
  Particularly as companies are looking to near-shore in the aftermath 
of COVID and looking to bring supply chains back to the United States 
and nations closer to the United States with which we have free-trade 
agreements, Mexico has been seen as a very attractive destination, but 
actions like those that are being taken against Vulcan now undermine 
that momentum. So in response to these actions, Senators Hagerty, 
Britt, Tuberville, Barrasso, Budd, and I introduced the Defending 
American Property Abroad Act earlier this year. The bill would make it 
clear that the United States does not condone discriminatory treatment 
against American companies, particularly with our free-trade agreement 
partners.
  We understand, even if we don't accept the notion, that some American 
companies are put at great disadvantage in nations where there are not 
trade agreements, but where there are trade agreements--particularly 
like USMCA, which is going to be scheduled for a renegotiation and 
consideration in 2026--we should not condone mistreatment of American 
companies by our trade agreement partners.
  The bill that we have introduced would reiterate that it is a 
bipartisan priority in Congress for the U.S. Government to work to 
uphold the USMCA's investment standards in the upcoming 6-year review 
of the trade agreement. It would work to deter Mexico and any country 
in our hemisphere from illegally seizing additional U.S. assets. We 
must make it clear that this behavior will not be tolerated.
  I note for my colleague with some sense of dismay that I think I have 
some colleagues on my side of the aisle who don't like the notion that 
a disappointed company can seek relief against a regulation put in 
place by another country. They are concerned about whether that is a 
violation of sovereignty in some sense.
  Yes, it is the case that the USMCA leaves wide latitude for the 
participating nations to adopt their own regulatory framework, but 
there should be no disagreement in this body that an effort to 
completely seize the property of an American company can never be 
justified as an appropriate regulatory action, and that is what is 
happening with Vulcan.
  I would hope colleagues on both sides of the aisle, in thinking about 
companies in their own States, would realize that if this is allowed to 
happen with the United States turning a blind eye or shrugging their 
shoulders to it, you will see a lot more of it, and we need to stop 
this now.
  I look forward to continuing to work to pass our bill next Congress. 
We must ensure that the future of the U.S.-Mexico relationship 
continues to be grounded in the rule of law.
  I am the chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the 
Foreign Relations Committee. I care about this relationship. I want it 
to get stronger and stronger. I celebrate its successes. I celebrate 
Mexico's successes. But I don't hesitate to stand and challenge actions 
either by the Mexican Government or the inaction of the U.S. Government 
that pose risk to Americans and American companies.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Cortez Masto). The Senator from Alabama.
  Mrs. BRITT. Madam President, as has been discussed by my 
distinguished colleagues, in May of 2022, the Mexican military forcibly 
shut down Vulcan Materials Company's operations. Almost a year later, 
military police came in--the military of our supposed ally--and they 
breached and seized Vulcan's port facility at gunpoint. That is right. 
Instead of using its armed forces to confiscate the fentanyl killing 
hundreds of American citizens every single day, the Mexican military, 
under the directive of their former President, confiscated a port 
rightfully owned by an American company, an Alabama company. Instead of 
going after the cartels, our neighbor went after law-abiding Americans.
  Radical leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador seized Vulcan's 
operations and property. Make no mistake, that action was illegal under 
both Mexican and international law, and it is unacceptable that 
Mexico's new President seems to be carrying the water for him. She said 
absolutely nothing except that she is going to continue Lopez

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Obrador's unlawful seizure of an American company and she stands with 
him.
  Time and time again over the past 4 years, bad actors across the 
globe have poked and prodded at the United States because they saw 
weakness in the White House. They saw they could do it and get away 
with it. When they did it without even the slightest bit of response, 
let alone consequences, they just kept doing it.
  The Wall Street Journal recently published an editorial citing 
sources stating that this administration, the Biden administration, has 
undergone last-minute, backroom negotiations on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada 
trade agreement. The changes, the Journal reported, would rob American 
companies like Vulcan of the protections they have relied on when 
investing in partner countries--the protections that would have 
prevented those partner countries from seizing, for example, operation 
centers or port facilities.
  The Biden administration and its U.S. Trade Representative are 
actively undermining American interests. They are leaving American 
companies out in the cold without consulting Congress, preventing us 
from exercising our constitutional duty to provide oversight on trade.
  The Biden administration's actions should be a front-page story in 
every newspaper across this Nation. The idea that a sitting President 
and/or his administration would be working against the interests of the 
country and/or the people he was elected to serve is absolutely 
unacceptable.
  While we wait for January 20, I am proud, in the interim, to 
support--proudly--Senator Bill Hagerty's piece of legislation. It is 
called Defending American Property Abroad Act. I joined this quickly, 
alongside Senators Barrasso, Budd, Kaine, Tuberville, and Wicker. It 
would prohibit the Mexican Government from profiting from its unlawful 
seizure of Vulcan's property and port facility. No vessel that has used 
a port, land, or infrastructure illegally seized from an American 
entity would be allowed entry into a U.S. port. Should the Mexican 
Government attempt to violate the law, it would be met with crushing 
consequences.
  The United States can no longer stand by as its companies are 
terrorized by foreign governments. We will not sit back and watch as 
our own government allows our interests around the world, in our own 
hemisphere, to come under attack, and we will not be afraid of 
protecting our own citizens and their interests.
  This past November, the American people did not choose decline; we 
chose renewal. We must begin to reassert ourselves and make sure that 
no country--not Mexico, not anyone else--can get away with seizures 
like the one the Mexican Government carried out against Vulcan.
  American interests, American families, American values, and American 
securities must come first.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, I would like to thank Senator 
Hagerty for coordinating this event and Senator Kaine and Senator Britt 
for standing up and supporting Vulcan Materials.
  You know, supporting American businesses abroad should be a unifying 
position across political parties, and I thank our Democratic 
colleagues who have joined me in this effort for the past several 
months.
  Unfortunately, we have seen just how little this administration cares 
about protecting American investments overseas. We could have corrected 
this problem. Specifically, I am talking about the unlawful actions 
taken by the Government of Mexico against Vulcan Materials Company, 
which is headquartered in Birmingham, AL.
  Vulcan is the Nation's largest producer of construction inputs, 
including crushed stone, sand, and gravel. Vulcan is also a major 
producer of materials like asphalt and ready-mix concrete. The 
materials produced by Vulcan are used in nearly all forms of 
construction. This includes infrastructure repairs to a bridge or a 
road or when a new office building is built or a church that needs to 
be built. While headquartered in Alabama, Vulcan has 720 facilities and 
more than 12,000 employees in the United States of America. Its reach 
is international.
  Vulcan has operated a quarry in Mexico since the eighties. This 
quarry supplies materials to Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, 
South Carolina, and Texas.
  Vulcan has quarried limestone legally in Mexico, on land that it owns 
and has paid for, for over 30 years. It has full ownership of the 
property in Mexico and owns the limestone reserves on the property--all 
paid for by Vulcan. Vulcan also operates a deepwater port in Mexico 
paid for by Vulcan. Vulcan operates that port because Vulcan built the 
port.
  Over the course of 30 years, Vulcan Materials has paid billions in 
taxes to the Mexican Government. It has employed thousands of people 
over the years, providing them with healthcare and pensions, which is 
why I was shocked when, 2 years ago, the Mexican Government swooped in 
and announced it would pursue legal action against Vulcan overnight. 
After all that Vulcan has done for the country of Mexico, the Mexican 
Government swooped in to stop all their operations in just a few days. 
The Mexican Government's baseless claim was that the company is 
operating illegally in Mexico--after 30 years. That statement is 
categorically false.
  Unfortunately, the Government of Mexico followed through with its 
threat and legal action. Mexican Government officials presented local 
Vulcan employees with orders to immediately cease operations on 
Vulcan's own land in Mexico.
  I believe this shutdown ordered by the Mexican Government represents 
a baseless attack on U.S. companies and demonstrates a disregard for 
rule of law. It is why I joined Senator Hagerty in introducing the 
Defending American Property Abroad Act to impose retaliatory 
prohibitions that deter and punish any Western Hemisphere nation that 
unlawfully seizes American assets.
  Clearly, Mexico's new President, Claudia Sheinbaum, didn't get the 
message that this is unacceptable. Under her leadership, the Mexican 
Government continues to pursue legal action against Vulcan.
  Vulcan has been and continues to be subject to public harassment, 
intimidation tactics, and all kinds of harassment from the Mexican 
Government. The Mexican Navy sent troops to the entrance of the Vulcan 
facility for several days. The Mexican Navy flew Black Hawk helicopters 
and drones over Vulcan's property. The Mexican Navy sent patrol boats 
to Vulcan's harbor. The Mexican Government withheld the issuance of a 
routine customs permit for several months.
  These actions by the Mexican Government are contrary to the most 
basic principles of international law and the free-trade agreements 
that bind our two countries together. Most notably, it goes against the 
USMCA--United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement--that was signed into law 
by President Trump.
  However, the Mexican Government's attack on Vulcan is bigger than 
just one company. First of all, it undermines the rule of law in 
Mexico. It ignores international law and free-trade agreements. It 
weakens our bilateral relationship. It will discourage future U.S. 
investment in Mexico.
  Over the last several years, we have all heard about the actions the 
Mexican Government has attempted to take against U.S. energy companies 
in Mexico. This action against Vulcan is just an example of how far 
Mexico is willing to go.
  This will have a direct impact on the supply chain for major 
infrastructure projects in the United States and the entire world.
  We cannot allow this to stand, and I know President Trump is not 
going to allow this to stand. He will not tolerate countries abusing 
the good work of American companies. As chief architect of the USMCA, 
President Trump won't allow any country in the Western Hemisphere to 
bully American businesses. It is a fight any country should think twice 
about starting.
  In the meantime, I urge the Biden administration to take appropriate 
action at the Office of the United States Trade Representative and 
through diplomatic channels to ensure that Vulcan--a great, great, 
great American company--can maintain critical operations in Mexico.
  I yield the floor.

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