Trump’s battle with the Sultans of Sugar

José and Alfonso Fanjul, "the Sultans of Sugar", are leading the US sugar lobby's charge against Mexico.

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Alfonso and Jos Fanjul
(Image credit: Credit: ZUMA Press Inc / Alamy Stock Photo)

"We have gotten the Mexican side to agree to nearly every request made by US industry," said the US commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, this week as he announced a provisional deal to settle a bitter dispute with Mexico over sugar exports to the US. You could almost hear the relief in his voice a lot hinged on the talks. Botching them could have meant a damaging trade war with Mexico, says the Financial Times. It would also have put the Trump administration on the back foot ahead of crucial renegotiations of the Nafta free-trade deal later this year, for which these talks were seen as a "dress rehearsal". There's just one fly in Ross's sugar bowl: the industry's big barons are refusing to play ball.

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